CAEB - Those Nightmares we hide
by MikeyST
Summary: New York changed everything. But they'd never expected this. What Tony brings back through the wormhole sends the team on a journey that will push their delicate relationship to its very limits. Stark's reward for saving the world, is a voyage to gates of hell and they were all being dragged with him. Plenty of hurt and friendship fluff but no slash. Rated for language and violence
1. Chapter 1- Manhattan

**_Well, here it comes. This one turned into a bit of an epic… and all the characters are going to go on one hell of a journey, especially our poor billionaire. Set immediately after the first Avengers film the plot is quite different from anything you've read before._**

 ** _I've been reliably informed by reviewers that it gets better as it goes on, so hopefully I can convince you all to stick in to the end._**

 ** _Anyway, hope you guys enjoy… It's going to be one hell of a ride._**

Prologue:

Chapter 1: Manhattan

Everything ached. He was pretty sure he was bleeding internally. He could feel his pulse, rapid and weak, throbbing all over his body. The accompanying sensation of his tattered armour digging into his flesh made breathing difficult and it was warm in here. He was roasting inside his shell. His vision seemed pixelated and the weight on his back he was fighting so hard to control seemed to be slowly crushing him. Darkness gathered in the corners of his vision and yet the light above was blinding. He had to pull up. The tower loomed ahead, but his strength had long since left him.

 _Come on!_ He could do this - he _had_ to do this. As he approached Stark Tower, he managed to pull up in time. He barely scraped the top of the building, but it was enough to make another bruised rib buckle. Yet he didn't notice the pain anymore. Everything in him was focused on his task. And now he was finally flying upwards, just meters away from the glowing blue that rimmed an intense void of darkness.

That void that would be his final destination. He knew that. He wasn't really bothered about dying; he hadn't thought twice about grabbing that missile until now. But seeing Pepper's contact photo staring back at him from his display forced him to swallow down the tears. He didn't want to leave her without saying goodbye. But she never picked up.

…

Pepper watched the TV screens from the jet in horror as events unfolded. Tony disappeared from view and was gone. Just like that. Eaten by the blackness and sucked into the empty.

As the agents around them cheered, Maria glanced over at her Boss. Fury bowed his head, realising that Stark had just paid the ultimate price for his mistakes.

As cheers broke out in the streets, there wasn't a sound from the Avengers. Their eyes remained fixed on the ring of blue. This wasn't over yet.

Pepper held her breath. The Avengers held their breath. Together, they prayed. He was coming back. He _was_ coming back. Wasn't he?

…

In a flash, the Earth was gone. Just... gone. He was separated from everything he knew, and every second he continued his course death edged nearer. He hadn't been scared before, but the sight he saw before him stole the air from his lungs. The alien warship loomed, but it was the vastness of space surrounding him that was truly suffocating. It was so cold, he couldn't breathe. The suit was too damaged. The oxygen just leaked away into the vacuum surrounding him. He was running out of time, out of power - and he was so very tired. He wanted to run. Until this moment he had wanted to see space all his life - he was a scientist after all - but there was no wonder in what he saw before him; only despair. If he let go now and turned back he could make it. He'd be ok - they all would - and he'd see Pepper again.

But the missile was still so far from its target. There was no guidance for it up here other than him and he had to make sure that it reached its destination. That was his only job now. His final task.

The suit was nearly exhausted - he could feel the arc reactor burning in his chest, the last of the fuel that was keeping him alive evaporating. He didn't matter. In his head he never really had, but now he had to ignore his terror and carry on. He had to die.

How much did he have left to give? Would he make it far enough? His vision blurred his lungs screamed. Where had the air gone? The suit was compromised. He was compromised and suddenly he could hold on no longer.

The rest happened in slow motion. The nuke reached its target and the shock wave blasted through him. He could feel his life leaving him, slowly draining, but there was tunnel, no bright white light and no guardian angel to guide him, only pain.

Alone. He was so very alone, in this desolate place and far, far away from home. He hoped he wouldn't remember dying. He had many awful memories but this was well up there. That was his last thought before the darkness folded in and he started falling.

...

Far away alarms sounded deep beneath the golden City. Platoons of thunderous footsteps pounded down the marble stairs but they were too late. As Odin burst into the dark vault the prisoner who must never leave already had a knife in hand.

"No!" The All-father's voice was but a whisper. This was not possible.

A dark smile passed across the prisoner's face and without another second of hesitation he plunged the metal deep into his chest.

Odin looked at the corpse in horror. The life had already drained from their prisoner's body, his face ghostly white. They had kept him so close to death for millennia, so it was no wonder it took him quickly. Blood pooled around his feet and the stench of it rose in the air and clung inside his throat. Death had just freed the most dangerous being in the universe and Odin had let it happen.

"Find it." He broke the dread-filled silence. "Scour the Universe. Find the new host!" Odin's thunderous voice sent feet scrambling to obey furious their king. "And do so quickly!"

...

 _Air! He was breathing, oh shit - something was roaring._ "What the hell!" _Jeez it was the Hulk, just the Hulk, ok, ok. Thor was there, and Steve._ "What just happened?"

That question answered itself soon enough as the world came back into focus. He was back, but how. _Oh God that hurt_ _._ He felt like… well, like he'd just fallen to Earth through a portal.

"We won." Steve's simple words made relief wash over him. He clicked his witty persona back into place, but lay still as long as he could without raising unwanted concern.

The team was tired, they had eaten their Shawarma in silence and then SHIELD inevitably had wanted them all to have their injuries checked and be fully debriefed. Tony hurt all over; it hurt to breathe, to move, to sit, and even to think. It was over - so why did he feel like he was still fighting, his energy constantly draining away?

He was almost too tired to bother fighting treatment, which was certainly not like him. Bruce was concerned when he re-emerged from the Hulk's grasp; he didn't remember much of the battle, but he did remember that the Hulk hadn't been all that gentle with Tony when he'd saved him from the fall. Tony kept up the façade that he was fine. He brushed off the medics with his usual tantrum-like behaviour and if it was less convincing than usual no one else noticed.

Thankfully, SHIELD waved on the debrief. It took some persuasion, but apparently it could be postponed till 7 AM. _'I mean Jeez, did they think there were going to suffer sleep amnesia?!'_ There was no way in hell Tony was going to get up that early. He'd rock up at 15:00 or maybe 15:30, probably drunk just to piss off Fury. _Whatever_. He wasn't going to feel guilty about it. They'd just saved the world; didn't they deserve a break?

Everyone was fine. It was a miracle really - they were battered and bruised, but rest of the team had dealt with nothing more serious than a few broken ribs. Their wounds would heal, and despite his public stubbornness, Tony would have Jarvis check him over to make sure there was nothing seriously wrong with him. He wasn't an idiot, he just hated fuss.

 _But would their minds heal?_

The question popped into Tony's mind unexpectedly. The others should be fine, he mused. War was nothing to most of them. Thor had seen centuries of death, Steve was a soldier and despite the fact that Natasha and Clint weren't, they were more than used to situations like this. Tony and Bruce were the only civilians. But Bruce didn't remember much of the Hulk being in control. Besides, he was so pleased with the fact that the only damage done by the Hulk was to the aliens that he wasn't dwelling on the horror or the death. And no one had seen what Tony had.

He had no one to talk to. Not that he would ever talk about his feelings. That was not something he ever did. His circle of trust would never be bigger than a few people. In fact, he thought he had already let it stretch too far some days.

Once back at the tower, he disappeared down to the lab. He needed to be alone and to be busy, so that he wouldn't think about it. Busy, so he wouldn't keep remembering what he saw out there, so far away.

But he did remember. He wished he had died like he was supposed to. Then he wouldn't have to keep reliving it every time his mind wandered. But that wasn't all. Underneath the multiple broken ribs, cracked pelvis and barrage of bruising the battle had left him, there was something different in there. Something was sucking the life out of him. Something that Jarvis didn't understand and… what really scared him was that he didn't understand it either.

…..

The Ravens had arrived in time to see the battle end and see the heroes depart with Loki well and truly detained. They had information to deliver to the Æsir on Midgard deemed of the utmost urgency, yet their Master would need to know the outcome of the battle. They glanced at each other and seemed to agree. They could not approach the Prince with so many Midgardians present. With a caw in the silenced city, Muninn spread his wings and took off from the scorched branches they had made their perch, disappearing into the horizon. Huginn watched his compatriot leave and then returned his gaze to the Prince as the setting sun demanded that the light begin to fade.

…

 **Hope you enjoyed Chapter 1, call this a teaser… my little prelude to set the scene. We start off quite slow, but believe me, very soon everything will get turned upside down.**

 **Just a sentence in that comments box will make my day, if you could take a second it would be hugely appreciated. See you in chapter 2.**


	2. Chapter 2 - Worry and Food fights

**It's fluff time. Enjoy.**

 _ **Previously:**_ _The battle of New York… The weary Avengers return to Stark Tower_ _._ _Tony has a feeling something isn't quite right and Jarvis finds something that neither of them understand._

 _In Asgar_ _d,_ _a prisoner kills itself to Odin's horror. Somehow, death has freed the most dangerous being in the universe. The messenger ravens_ _,_ _Huginn and Muninn_ _, a_ _rrive on_ _E_ _arth to give Thor a message from Odin._

Chapter 2: Worry and food fights

Pepper always kept her cool. Always. Or that's what she told herself. It was for the most part true, but there was one exception. One person that could make her melt into a puddle and reduce her to nothing more than a mess of a woman. That, of course, was Tony Stark.

Pepper was a formidable, no-nonsense kind of woman. CEO of Stark enterprises, queen of one of the world's most powerful companies. So why did she feel so powerless?

Regardless of the heels she was wearing and the burning it sent through the arches of her feet, she hit the ground running from the moment the jet's door opened. Tony was alive - that was what had been reported on the news channel - but she'd seen him fall. Was he hurt? How badly? She had missed his call. She hadn't been there when he had needed her the most and now he wasn't picking up. There were innumerable possibilities rushing through her mind, most of which she knew were just plain ridiculous. But no amount of reason would help quell her thoughts. She had to see Tony. A tear slid down her cheek, unnoticed by her chauffeur, but by the time she reached the tower she had her business face on.

The elevator doors breezed open. The room before her was dim and silent, yet she could make out five figures strewn across the couches and as her eyes adjusted to the light she could tell that most of them were asleep. There was no Tony.

…

Tony was down in the lab, fighting with the arc reactor. It was a complete write off; the core was completely frazzled and it just kept flickering, fighting for life. He had plenty of spares but the dying reactor's casing was deformed from the pummelling the suit had taken, both from Thor before the battle and everything that had happened during it. What this meant was the usually very simple mechanism to remove the arc reactor wasn't working and the damn thing was stuck. Couldn't anything just be easy today?

This was not good. He looked back to the mirror and tried again to twist it out of its holder, but every time he pressed on his sternum his broken ribs screamed and the air left his lungs. The area around the casing was surrounded by an extensive stain of deep purple bruising which didn't exactly help things. He sat down, panting, after another failed attempt. This was getting risky now. He was on the clock and with the reactor's erratic power supply, he was starting to feel really awful.

He gasped and grabbed his chest suddenly - was that the shrapnel moving, or was he just being paranoid? Either way, he had to get it out and now.

"Sir..." Jarvis began for the 20th time. The bots continued to whine and twirl in distressed circles.

"No!" Tony gasped, cutting off the AI abruptly. He didn't want the others down here and they wouldn't be able to help anyway. There was only one thing to do now.

Tony got up and faced the mirror, taking short, sharp breaths - psyching himself up for the pain that was about to come. He could vaguely hear Jarvis' protests in the background, but all his senses were gradually getting duller. He closed his eyes. God, he wasn't looking forward to this, but being gentle had failed and sometimes when things weren't working you just had to hit them with a hammer…

Of course, in practice that sometimes made things worse, but he wasn't going to consider that possibility until he had to.

Ok. He blew out hard and placed both hands gently over the reactor, making sure he had a good grip, and paused. He was dreading what was to come. "Well, here goes nothing."

He braced himself and pulled as hard as he could. "Oh _Jesus_ ," he yelled - the pain was severe, bordering on unbearable, and his cry did nothing to help relieve it. And the reactor still wasn't giving. He swore and twisted it, unable to hold in the scream as the pain reached a crescendo. He was thankful for the sound proofing in his workshop, and more thankful that the pain was short lived. The reactor finally came free and Tony stumbled onto his knees as the force was released.

Now time was crucial. He inspected the empty casing in the mirror and cursed again. It would need replacing and that would take precious time that he barely had. Still, he had no choice. Walking clumsily across the room, he rooted around his desk, frantically looking for the spare. Shit. Why couldn't something just be where he'd left it for a change? Why hadn't he thought to get everything ready before he'd torn out his life support? He cursed himself silently. The panic he'd been trying so hard to keep a lid on was starting to rise in the back of his throat and his hands scurried faster. Where the hell was it? He could have sworn he'd left it in the top drawer.

"For fucks sake Jarvis, a little help!" Tony bit out, glaring upwards in a glance as he started shovelling papers onto the floor.

"Third drawer on the left."

Tony was covered in sweat now, breathing heavily - and he was starting to shiver. That would be the shock setting in. He hadn't felt this bad since Obadiah had stolen the reactor and that memory was hardly helping with the state of terror he was wrestling with. He finally found the casing, grabbed on to it with trembling fingers, and fumbled to keep hold as he slumped back in the chair, his legs finally starting to buckle.

He panted quietly, focusing on getting his breathing even so he could get to work. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't get his usually steady hands to stop shaking. This was making things impossible. He lifted a hand and beckoned his bots to come closer. They obeyed quickly with a concerned whir of electronics. Butterfingers leaned over him, taking the place of a steady hand, and for once managed to stay still while Tony slipped everything back into place.

Finally, there was some relief. As the new reactor clicked into place he felt the power coarse through his chest and everything settled slowly into its normal rhythm.

Tony was still shaking. That had been far too close for his liking. Dummy whined behind him, trying to drape a blanket over Tony's shoulders but struggling with his single arm. The robot scampered away and came back with U in tow, the two of them together managing to complete the task. Tony smiled and patted the bots lovingly. Maybe they weren't completely useless.

He sank back onto a couch and wrapped the blanket around himself more tightly. Catching a glimpse of his reflection, he groaned at the deathly pale, sweat sheened glisten of his skin and gently rocked himself backward and forward for comfort. The bots fussed around him, refusing to leave their creator's side, but Tony didn't notice. He was somewhere else entirely.

…

"Sir... Sir… SIR!"

Tony jerked and brought himself back out of the trance.

"Sir?" Tony held up his hand to halt the AI. He needed a minute. There was something in the back of his throat. He started coughing and pulled a trashcan closer to him before retching painfully. He spat out a mouthful of sickening, copper tasting liquid. Blood. Great. Fuck, that wasn't good. He glanced upwards but Jarvis was one step ahead.

"Running scans Sir, please stay still." The AI had to wait until the coughs stopped wracking Tony's body. Each one burnt and tore at his broken ribs, forcing tears to his eyes. Finally, he sunk to the floor and obliged, staying still while the AI did his job.

"No further damage Sir, the blood was just a remnant from damage to the reactor casing." Tony sighed in relief, shivering a little which brought a grimace to his face.

"Sir, may I add that Miss Potts arrived outside the tower 4 minutes ago and has just reached the penthouse."

"Oh shit!" Tony looked at himself in the mirror. He was regaining his color but he still looked very rough and trembled slightly. She couldn't find him like this; he didn't want her to worry. As soon she found out he where he was she'd be marching down here, and he really didn't feel like answering a barrage of questions or being fussed over.

He rushed to the sink and instantly regretted it, hanging onto the worktop and swaying slightly. Once the world stopped spinning, he ran some water into the bowl, rinsing the sweat from his face and running a hand towel through his hair to make it look less grimy. He inspected himself in the mirror one more time, slapping a little more color into his gray cheeks before ditching the blanket and making his way back up the stairs to the penthouse.

"Jarvis, don't you say a word," he warned the ceiling as he entered the stairwell.

Tony could almost feel Jarvis sigh. "Understood, sir."

…

No one had noticed Pepper come in. Clint was screwing up a paper ball, which he proceeded to throw it at a sleeping Natasha. Senses still sharp from the battle, she sensed danger and woke up with a start. The sudden movement jostled Bruce next to her. His head swung up groggily with a mumbled "What?" and stretched instinctively to remove the haze of sleep, elbowing Steve in the head. Steve jumped violently to his feet, standing on Thor's arm and suddenly everyone was on high alert.

Clint started chuckling quietly and Natasha cursed him in Russian. What she threw back his way was not so soft and light. With his back aching Clint was not so nimble and the heavy ceramic mug glanced his forehead before smashing on the floor. His face curled into a childish sulk and he was soon the one being laughed at.

Pepper breathed a sigh of relief. They were all fine. She smiled at the scene in front of her and cleared her throat loudly, which brought the laughter to a halt as five faces snapped around to look at her.

"Natasha's paying for the mug!" Natasha glared at Clint from across the room. "And Bruce is paying for the floor!" They all glanced over at the Loki sized dent and Bruce chuckled for the first time at a memory shared between him and the Hulk. That had been fun.

"Does that mean you're volunteering to pay for the glass, Clint?" Pepper raised an eyebrow, eyes flitting the broken window. The others chuckled as Clint squirmed in his seat.

"Well… uh - technically that was Tony's fault, not mine!"

"Ok then, I'll take that up with him. Where _is_ Tony?" she asked. The Avengers glanced around for a moment before Thor remembered.

"He said something about going to a shop. What he means to buy, I do not know." Thor's response only served to make Pepper look confused.

"He's in his workshop Pepper." Natasha translated, rolling her eyes at Thor's naivete to Earthly expressions. He'd been living on and off the planet for a while now, hadn't he?

Pepper's mouth fell open in disbelief. Although she had to admit that part of her had expected it, she couldn't quite believe he'd be so stupid.

"Oh, for God's sake, after what you've all just been through, surely fixing… uh… _whatever_ , can wait! If he's locked himself in there again I'll…"

"Chillax Pep, I haven't locked myself in there again."

Everyone turned around. Tony was leaning casually against the wall. Pepper looked him up and down, inspecting him for injuries. He looked ok. His face was a bit smashed up and on second glance the way he was leaning on the wall seemed more like he was clinging onto it for dear life. Pepper frowned and Tony noticed.

He walked over to the couch, calmly and fluidly, showing no sign of the sharp pain nor his endless weariness and practically sat on Clint to force him to move over. Pepper was still not convinced. She knew Tony well enough to understand that his acting ability was more than a rival to his intellect.

"I see that the circle of light glows again Stark," Thor said, noticing the more intense than normal glow of the arc reactor. "I take that this is a good sign."

Tony face-palmed. _'_ _T_ _hanks a lot, Goldilocks'_ he thought to himself.

Pepper's eyes widened in horror. "The reactor went _out_?!"

"Pepper, chill, it was only for a minute. It was drained and I swapped her over for a new one. Easy-peasy," he talked her down gently, waving his hands in a calming manner.

Pepper opened her mouth to argue, but she wasn't going to make more of a fuss in front of everyone. They were all tired, but that didn't mean Tony wouldn't be explaining later. In detail!

"What does it even do?" Steve asked, glancing at the arc.

"That's a long story Cap," Tony replied, hoping he sounded off-handed. Steve's unimpressed look spoke his thoughts before he did.

"We're a team now, Stark. If something like this happens again we need to know. I mean, you were on the ground, the light was out, and we didn't know what to do. The worst case scenario nearly happened."

"It's not going to happen again." Steve gave Tony the eyebrow. ' _Oh God, not the eyebrow!_ _'_ He rolled his eyes. "Natasha knows, she can handle it," he finished, shrugging the question off to the Russian.

"Um, no. No, I don't Stark, not really," she corrected, crossing her legs. "SHIELD only has very basic information about the palladium - which you keep deleting from the file, don't think we haven't noticed…" she scolded. "But after that were in the dark and I can't see you filling us in any time soon."

Pepper made eye contact with Natasha, unnoticed by the others. Her eyes pleaded with her to drop it - it had been a tough day and she could sense Tony getting edgy. This was a touchy subject and not one to be discussing right now. Natasha gave a small nod in response. She could understand Tony's need for a bit peace right now; hell, she needed it herself.

There was an awkward silence in the room for a moment while Tony considered his options. Having teammates really sucked. He should have stayed in his lab.

"Tony?" Steve demanded an answer. Natasha was about to back him down, but Tony had had enough.

"Ok, ok, fine! I'll give you your storytime Capsicle, but just not right now, ok? So… maybe later," he offered. There was a pause whilst Steve met Natasha's gaze and decided that was enough for now. He needed to lighten the mood; he knew he'd pushed a bit too far.

"That nickname better not stick, Stark." Steve raised his eyebrow again.

"Out of my hands now Steve." Tony just lay his head back on the sofa and high-fived Clint. The pair's eyes were already closing.

Pepper watched them quietly as they all slowly sank back into the couches and closed their eyes. She tiptoed to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Well, that was a surprise. Tony had actual food in it for once. She checked the expiration dates skeptically. Predictably, most of it was out of date, but there was enough.

"Who's hungry?" She chimed. Two hands instantly shot up followed by eager faces.

"But we just had Shawarma," Natasha protested, then reconsidered. "Fuck it. I'm hungry again already."

Thor and Steve needed no encouragement, but Bruce hung back.

"Not hungry, Bruce?" Pepper called from the kitchen as they all joined her, busy behind the stove.

"No thanks, I'm ok. I should probably get going," he replied uncomfortably. He felt that he'd overstayed his welcome already.

"You're joking, right?" Tony called through the kitchen. "Where to, Calcutta?" Bruce simply shrugged.

"Seriously guys, you're all staying here, for tonight at least. And… uh, indefinitely, if you want." There was a mumble of concern from the Avengers.

"No, come on, think about it," Tony reasoned. "When was the last time that any of you had a real home? No offence intended, of course. It's not like there isn't enough space. If it's privacy you're worried about, you can have a floor each!"

There was a moment of silent consideration and then Steve took the lead.

"It wouldn't be a bad idea to stay together as a team. Who knows when we'll be needed again and we can't have another show like on the Helicarrier. We have to be better, smooth out those kinks. The world might depend on it again someday."

"Steve's right," Natasha said, needing no more convincing, and Clint nodded along with her. Tony glanced at Bruce and could see he would need a little more convincing, but had accepted it for now.

"I'm afraid I may not be able to commit to stay on Midgard, comrades," Thor said apologetically. "I have duties to perform Asgard, and whether your SHIELD should permit it or not I must return my brother home to face his punishment."

"Sure thing Point Break, but you'll have a room here whenever you want it."

"I appreciate that very much, Man of Iron."

"Tony please, just Tony."

"Ok… Tony," Thor tested out. Everyone winced.

"You know what, it doesn't sound right when you say it. Just call me whatever. Now come on slackers, get back here and help us. If you're staying here I'm sure as hell not cooking for you every day. It's everyone for themselves!"

"I thought we were supposed to be 'being a team'," Clint pointed out

"Yeah well, I'm not your mother, Legolas." Tony eyed the pile in front of him and shook his head. "Pepper, you do realize how much we all eat, right? That's nowhere near enough."

"Tony, there's tons here. How on Earth could you eat all that?"

"Well for a start, he's not from Earth," Tony said, pointing at Thor, "he's got a supercharged metabolism," he swung his arm to point at Steve whilst stirring furiously with his other, "and me and Clint are just fat." For that, Tony got a face full of cold pasta sauce, flung with great accuracy from the other side of the kitchen. He wiped it off dispassionately and flung it straight back.

"Face it, Clint: I call you Legolas, but you look like you ate Orlando bloom."

"Oh man, you're on, Stark!" A handful of pasta flew across the room, but this time was artfully dodged by Tony and arranged itself in the hair of an unprepared Natasha and Thor. There was a burning Russian fury in Natasha eyes which instantly silenced the room and made jaws drop nervously. Clint's face was priceless.

"I think I'm going to leave now," Bruce said, shuffling toward the door. It was obvious what was coming next and the Hulk didn't need to make another appearance today.

"I might join you," Pepper seconded, and followed him calmly.

When the two came back an hour later the room was covered floor to ceiling in red sauce and uncooked pasta, and so too were the Avengers, who were now asleep on the couch. Having clearly abandoned the cooking, empty pizza boxes were strewn amongst them.

There were two boxes on the counter, marked in Tony's handwriting with Bruce and Pepper's names on top. They smiled softly. Bruce glanced at his friends - and strangely, it felt right to call them that - wondering how they had managed to guess his favourite type. After lingering for a moment, they retreated to another room with their pizzas to leave the others in peace.

…

Huginn had tried to approach Thor once the Avengers had been alone, yet the Prince seemed not to notice his calls. Muninn's return brought with it the demand that the Prince return to the golden city immediately, but as the ravens circled the strange glass tower they were unable to reach him. The glass was broken, they had a way in, yet there was something stopping them from entering - a strange energy meant they couldn't get closer than a few meters away from the battered humans and their Prince. They watched from the balcony as Thor slept, hoping that when they woke their presence would be noticed.

…


	3. Chapter 3- The sparks of a family

_**I realise the start of this story is kind of covering old ground and is quite slow moving but please bear with, it will start to get interesting soon, and well I hope it's been interesting so far anyhow.**_

 _ **P.S I suck at Chapter titles. IDEK why I bother :'D**_

 _ **Previously:**_ _Post_ _t_ _he battle of New York… Tony has some trouble with the Arc reactor and it needs replacing. His ribs are a mess but he covers it up. Something is wrong_ _-_ _there is a strange energy sucking the life from him and neither he nor Jarvis can understand it._

 _The Avengers attempts at cooking end in a food fight, ordering Pizza and falling asleep._

 _The death of a prisoner in Asgard has released the most dangerous being in the universe and for some reason, the_ _raven_ _messengers Huginn and Muninn are unable to approach Thor to deliver their message from Odin._

 **Chapter 3: The sparks of a family**

Tony was too tired to sleep for long, however crazy that seemed. He woke up on his side, throbbing all over. The pain made him feel nauseous, but he resisted the urge to groan as he shuffled gingerly. Daylight still streamed in through the broken windows but it was finally showing signs of fading into night. The absence of glass was noticeable as the evening chill started to bite. He couldn't have been out for more than a few hours, he mused. Tony swallowed down a yelp as he tried to sit up and his broken ribs shifted.

How the hell had he fallen asleep on his side? He must have passed out; the pain was horrific. He moved himself carefully, making one small move at a time. It must have taken him a good 10 minutes to get to his feet. He uttered a whimper as his muscles spasmed to maintain his balance, and he felt a bit dizzy but the room looked solid for a change. It took a further few minutes to pick his way through the sleeping bodies that surrounded him without waking them. It was like playing a dangerous and painful game of twister.

He picked a piece of pasta from his hair and inspected the layer of bolognese sauce, blood and rubble he was caked in. Then he saw the kitchen and a smile twitched at his lips. It looked like the battle of Stark tower kitchen had nearly matched the battle of Manhattan on the messiness front. He seriously needed a shower. And to clean up the kitchen. But the latter could certainly wait.

He glanced back at his teammates fondly and then extended his gaze across the damaged city. There were two black shapes sat at the edge of his balcony. As he looked more intently, he recognised them as ravens. Two abnormally large ravens were just sitting there, on his balcony, staring at him. There was a prickle in the air, an anxiety that bit at his stomach. The soulless eyes of the two birds seemed to bore into him, making him feel very unsettled. This was all feeling like some sort of weird and disturbing dream, so he pinched himself to check he was indeed awake.

The feeling of anxiety seemed to pass and the tiredness started to return. He waved his hands half-heartedly to shoo the damn birds, but he abandoned the endeavour quickly when he realised they hadn't so much as blinked. _'Could ravens even blink?_ He thought to himself. _'Meh, whatever'_. The shower was calling. He turned to walk away, but suddenly his insides recoiled in burning hatred. Those bastard ravens. He needed to get rid of them. He imagined loading a shotgun and shooting the birds straight through their skulls, gaining intense satisfaction at the vision of their limp carcasses spiralling down from the balcony to the concrete below.

Tony jolted in confusion, letting out a small gasp. _Why had he just thought that? What the fuck was wrong with him?_ Today had been far too weird already. He was tired, it had been a tough day and everything would be fine in the morning. Well, at least he hoped it would. Putting the birds out of his mind, he turned and left the room, thoughts of sleep and comfort taking the forefront of his consciousness.

…

The hot water should have made him feel better but it just sapped his strength more. At least now he was clean, but watching a stain of red wash down the drain despite knowing most of it was sauce was a bit disconcerting. He was hypnotised by the way it spiralled around his feet and before he could realize his mistake his mind was torn away from the safety of his home and suddenly he was back there, in the dark and the cold. The distant lights danced in the darkness and the hum of the Chitauri war ship resonated through the air and through his body. And then he couldn't breathe. The Iron Man suit clung to him, crushing and suffocating him. Then came the panic.

He gasped aloud and slammed through the shower door, landing on hands and knees. Desperate pants fell from his lips as he tried frantically to fill his lungs. He cursed quietly, groaning; deep breathing was horrendously painful and he had to calm down before he popped a rib and punctured his own lung.

"Pull yourself together Stark!" he hissed. God, he hoped he hadn't yelled out. He stayed silent and listened for a moment; the absence of worried footsteps seemed to confirm that no one had noticed the commotion. Why was he making such a big deal out of this? It's not like this was Afghanistan happening again, and Neil Armstrong didn't freak out about being on the moon. So why was he getting all fainty about a few seconds of being in space? There was no doubt he'd been through worse. God, he was such a loser.

Moving slowly in a vain attempt to avoid any pain, he slipped into a robe and went to turn the water off. Then he saw what he had done. He hadn't just barged through the shower door, he'd taken it with him. It was shattered on the floor where he had landed, taken clean off its hinges with the frame pulled out of the wall. The tiles were his knees had landed were cracked and plaster was hanging off the wall were the shower door had once been.

Well, shit. It had been a tough, adrenaline fueled day - that's all this was about. Sleep was what he needed, just a good night's sleep. He shook out the faint tremble in his arms and glanced back at the mess he'd made. He'd fix that later. Now he just wanted to fade into a calm and dreamless slumber.

…

Natasha's eyes snapped open, but she didn't panic. She knew the difference between a bad dream and reality and she certainly knew that Loki wasn't here commanding Clint to stab her. He was now safely under armed guard at SHIELD to give "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" a few hours of peace before his fate was decided. Not that that prison walls had stopped Loki before, but this time there were a few more people guarding him. Try, like 200.

She sat up slowly. God, her neck hurt. It served her right for sleeping on a couch, she supposed. Around the room, the other Avengers were sleeping peacefully. There was a faint snoring coming from Thor, but no, there were no other noises but the sounds of their sleeping breaths. She smiled then yawned, closing her heavy eyelids again. She should probably get up and Clint should too. His back was bad after landing on his quiver and it certainly wouldn't appreciate sleeping _that_ twisted.

Suddenly there was thunder - thunder _inside_ the tower. Natasha's sat up quickly and looked around, concerned. That wasn't thunder, that was Thor's _snoring_. She must have fallen asleep again before the noise had risen to its crescendo. She wasn't the only one awake now, both Steve and Clint had been woken by the noise and were gazing around bleary eyed.

Clint groaned, clearly regretting his sleeping position. "So that's why they call him the God of Thunder!"

Natasha got up slowly and prodded Clint gently with her foot. "Come on, up."

"Why," Clint moaned, childish as ever.

"Because, we're all going to find ourselves that room that Tony offered and sleep in proper bed so you don't wake up with a broken spine. Shower first."

"Yes, Mom!" Clint protested, but Natasha had her arms on him, helping ease him to his feet. Clint's face broke a grimace as he clutched his back before straightening up, nodding a thank you her way.

"You too, Cap."

"Yes Ma'am." Steve wasn't going to protest. For someone who was supposed to need next to no sleep, he was tired and he ached from his various injuries. His open wounds had been patched up and with his quick healing he would be fine by morning, but he wasn't so sure about the others. Thor's wounds had probably healed already, being a demi-God and all, but the others were only human. He knew Clint and Natasha had had a proper check-up, as he had done himself, but Tony had resisted; either because he was just being stubborn as usual or he was hiding something.

Steve looked around, puzzled. Where _was_ Tony? He'd been there for the pasta fight (that was the most fun he'd had in a long, long time) and the billionaire had been one of the first to fall asleep.

He followed Natasha and Clint slowly down the hallway and he could hear a running shower when he passed what he assumed was Tony's room. Maybe he was being sensible, for once - if not Pepper would surely be onto him. Then he heard the chatter of Bruce and Pepper coming from behind.

"Oh hey, Pepper." Natasha smiled cheerily. "Which rooms can we sleep in? We're all pretty tired."

"Oh, any down that hallway, I think there's one each actually. Talk about good planning," she smiled sweetly.

"Why did Tony put so many rooms in this place if there's only two of you?" Steve asked, amused.

"Because he's rich and he can," Clint answered with a smirk on his face.

"Yep, pretty much." Pepper confirmed. "With a tower this big, you have to fill it with something."

"I suppose." Steve still didn't really understand, but that was about the best explanation he was going to get.

"What about sleeping beauty back there?" Clint asked.

"Who is this sleeping beauty of which you speak?" the Thunderer's voice boomed as he came up behind them.

"Uh, no one," Clint waved a hand dismissively. They held back a snicker and Thor was too weary to notice or probe further.

"You all look exhausted, so I'll leave you to it. Take care of yourselves and just ask Jarvis if you need anything - I've given you all basic security clearance, but don't try to get into Tony's lab without his permission or he'll flip."

Natasha remembered her short time working for Stark; she hadn't once been inside. "True, that place is like Fort Knox."

They all nodded. Even Clint was too tired to joke or make conversation. They dispersed into their various rooms and as they did Pepper retreated quickly to check on Tony.

…

Thor's sleep had been troubled. He kept seeing the ravens, Huginn and Muninn, and it gave him a bad feeling. Why? He did not know. The presence of his father's messengers was not necessarily a bad omen, so this feeling of foreboding seemed unwarranted. He opened his eyes to find himself alone. The others had obviously left as he could hear hushed voices and tired footsteps retreating down the corridor. Thor glanced out of the gaping hole in the tower and saw clear skies. The absence of Huginn and Muninn's dark figures gave him comfort enough to dismiss the dream as exactly that. He took in a breath of the Midgardian air and turned to follow the others.

…

The ravens rejoiced when Thor woke alone, yet they could still not breach this invisible barrier. They cawed and danced on the balcony edge, flapping their wings in an attempt to draw the Prince's gaze. Finally, the Prince looked, he stared right at them, so how did he not see?! This was vexing indeed. Odin must be told. This time it was Huginn's turn to seek advice from their master. Muninn was left with the task of summoning the Prince's attention and returning him forthwith to Asgard. The question was, how?

…

Pepper was desperately relieved to find Tony tucked up in bed, although wriggling uncomfortably. He had clearly spent a while time trying to construct some sort of framework of pillows to get comfortable on his side.

She slid into bed beside him. It was a bit early for her to sleep, but she didn't want to spend another minute without Tony. She slid her hand into his and gently pulled his arm away from the pillow he was currently wrestling with.

"Let me help. Where do you want it?"

"Two inches up and three to the right," Tony sighed, clearly exhausted and no longer able to hide it. Pepper obliged as gently as she could, smiling at his engineer's precision.

"Are you going tell me what you've injured, or do I have to ask Jarvis?"

Tony sighed. "Just a couple of broken ribs, hence the pillow fortress… and a few scrapes and bruises."

Pepper knew Tony too well and glanced up to the ceiling to ask Jarvis for confirmation.

"Sir, you've neglected to mention your pelvic fracture."

"Thank you, Jarvis" Tony growled.

"Tony," Pepper frowned.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, and no I don't need to go to hospital, they'd just tell me to go home and rest - which is what I'm trying to do right now," Tony whined and waved a hand lazily at the ceiling "Tell her, Jarvis."

"I can confirm Sir's statement Miss Potts." Pepper hummed, still a little annoyed that Tony wouldn't just be straight with her.

"Jarvis?" Tony grunted

"Yes Sir?"

"Put this floor on lockdown. No one leaves this floor before o'930 tomorrow," Tony huffed and quickly reconsidered. "No wait… make that 10AM."

Pepper frowned and opened her mouth, but Jarvis beat her to it.

"Very well Sir. May I ask why?"

"SHIELD has organised a debrief at 7AM and I want to piss Fury off by keeping him waiting."

"Tony!"

"What!? We just saved the world and he wants us up that early!? He can go to hell. Can you pull that pillow out for me Pep?" Tony flicked his hand sluggishly.

"This one?" She tapped it gently and Tony nodded. "Better?"

"Yeah, nailed it."

Pepper wasn't convinced. "Are you sure you're comfy, Tony? Why don't you just sleep on your back tonight?"

"I can't."

"You can't?"

"No, I can't sleep on my back. Believe me, I've been trying since I was eight."

Pepper frowned in confusion, but let it go deciding now was not the time to probe further. "Ok, well just wake me if you need anything… please."

Tony grunted.

"Let me look after you, Tony. I love you and I nearly lost you today. I am so, so sorry I missed your call, I…" Tears were welling in Pepper's eyes.

"It's fine Pep." Tony's tone was dismissive, but then he heard Pepper's quiet sniffle as she tried to hold back the tears and felt guilty. He turned over very, very slowly despite Pepper's protests, so he was looking into her eyes.

"Come here." He whispered. Tony pulled Pepper in to a hug, albeit a gentle one. It spoke more than his words ever could to her. They didn't move for a while and Tony began to drift off finally. "I love you Pep," He mumbled, only half conscious.

Pepper smiled, and a tear ran down her cheek. "I love you too, Tony."

She didn't drift off for a while after they'd rearranged the pillows to allow for Tony's new position. She just lay there and watched him breathing. She still couldn't quite believe he was really here. She had been so convinced that she had lost him. Today had certainly not been an easy one, but one thing she had always found was that no matter how bad the day had been, it was how you felt when it ended that you remembered. So today had been a good day, because right now she was very happy. She had Tony back, the planet was safe and things couldn't be much better. Well, apart from the small, fast, laboured breaths Tony took. He was in far more pain than he was letting on, but that was nothing new. She closed her eyes and prayed, to whoever was listening, thanking them again for bringing him back home and not leaving him in some godforsaken reach of outer space.

She finally drifted off, though even the tiniest of twitches that Tony made in the night woke her from light slumber. He didn't wake once.

…

Steve was livid. He'd dragged himself out of bed at 6:15 AM to find that not only did nobody else have any intention of getting up, but Tony had locked him into the penthouse so there was no way he could get to the SHIELD debrief. Was he the only one around here with a sense of duty? There was protocol to follow and it wasn't as if he wasn't tired too, he had been there with them!

He sat on a stool and rested his head on the worktop. Maybe he was overreacting. They were all exhausted and he supposed that SHIELD could wait. Perhaps it was, for once, Tony who was being sensible. He scoffed in amusement at that thought.

Sleep filled his mind once he accepted the situation. He needed to go back to bed for a few hours.

"Morning, Cap." Tony wandered groggily into the kitchen and made straight for the coffee machine. Steve woke with a start, a red mark on his forehead giving away the fact he must have fallen asleep on the kitchen counter.

"Go back to bed." Tony enjoyed the chance to give orders. Steve smiled weakly as the fog of sleep cleared and glanced up at the clock. Yikes, it was quarter past eight already.

"No, once I'm up, I'm up."

Tony chuckled, "Yeah?" He said with raised eyebrow. "Tell that to your forehead."

Steve rubbed the ridge absentmindedly and smiled. "Well, you know some of us intended to go to that debrief this morning."

Tony looked at him quizzically, the glint in his deep hazel eyes the only thing giving away his insincerity. He slapped a hand over his mouth and gasped in a moment of realization. "Oh no, the debrief! I forgot all about that." He looked at the clock in mock horror. "Oh no, it's 8:15, we've missed it! Nevermind, we'll have to reschedule."

"Very funny, Stark."

"I do try."

Steve just shook his head in defeat as Bruce walked in yawning and trying to straighten out his hair.

"Hey guys." Bruce's voice was gravely and tired. "Can I?" Bruce looked at Tony and pointed to the fridge.

"Knock yourself out." Tony got out his phone and glanced at the screen. "I'm popular this morning. 14 missed calls from Fury. I'll call him after lunch." He said flippantly.

"Tony seriously, winding Fury up already?" Bruce sighed.

"Yep." Tony said, dropping the P.

Steve couldn't help but chuckle at Tony's completely carefree attitude. He sometimes wished he could be like that - it would be nice to not always feel responsible and bound to follow orders.

"Why are you up, Stark, if you forgot all about the debrief?" Steve asked with a little concern. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Nah, slept like a log. I'm not tired now, 11 hours is more than I usually have in a fortnight."

"And isn't that all too true," Pepper said, walking in behind them and ruffling Tony's hair lovingly. She had tried and tried to get Tony to stay in bed, but she knew it was pointless once he had set his mind on something. In all honesty, she knew he probably hadn't been comfy and she didn't blame him. She slid a couple of Advil along the worktop towards him. He scooped them up thankfully, dry swallowing, then planted a kiss in her cheek.

"Hungry?" She turned to Steve as Bruce was already helping himself to cereal.

"Did someone say food?" Clint poked his head around the corner, eager eyed. He waddled in stiffly, cradling his injured back. Tony didn't mock as he usually would have - every one of them was sore as hell and it really was no fun. Instead, he pushed the painkiller box his way which earned him a grunt of thanks.

Seconds later, a bleary eyed, long-haired blonde appeared wearing a borrowed T-shirt that was far too tight on him.

"I have a feeling our food bill will be going up considerably while you're all staying here." Pepper grinned. It was nice to have other people in this place.

"You betcha!" Clint grinned at Pepper. "You got bacon?"

She just smiled and nodded.

"I remember these delicious morsels!" Thor mumbled, head in the cupboard.

"Oh my God!" Clint went to jump up but quickly realized it was a bad idea, grimacing as pain jolted up his back. "You've got Pop Tarts!" The grimace faded and was replaced by a glint in his eye.

"God no, don't give Clint Pop Tarts, he's hyper enough without them," Natasha said, emerging from the hall. She was clearly sleepy and not in the best of moods. She needed coffee. "Could you guys have made any more noise?! I was trying to sleep."

"Sorry, 'Tash," Clint said sincerely. Her room had been closest to the kitchen and if she was even half as beat as Clint felt, she would not have enjoyed being woken prematurely.

"It's fine, couldn't sleep anyway. Bad dreams," she admitted.

"Huh, yeah. Join the club." Clint coughed.

"Yeah well, I'd bet good money most of us struggled to sleep. Some of us are just a little more reluctant to admit it than others," Steve said, staring at Tony in particular, who rolled his eyes in response.

"Yeah," Clint considered, "yesterday was some weird shit."

"Agreed," Tony nodded. The room had fallen into a contemplative silence.

"I'm just glad you're all back safe." Pepper ruffled Tony's hair and placed her hand supportively on Natasha's back as she stood next to her.

"Yeah, it's a damn miracle, really!" Natasha mused. "We're all still standing."

"Speak for yourself," Clint said, clutching his back and sitting awkwardly on the stool.

"Oh, great, we're comparing injures now!" Tony rolled his eyes and shuffled the bacon in the pan.

"Ah, Comrades, this is something we often do on Asgard after a mighty battle, I must share with you my tale!"

Pepper and Natasha exchanged a glance as Thor began to tell of his battle with Loki, of course omitting the fact that he had been outwitted by his brother. Thor lifted his shirt to show off his stab wound, though it had faded to a red ridge on his skin, already nearly repaired. Nonetheless, it earned him a high five from Clint (the concept of which needed explaining to the Norse God which was quite a source of amusement for the others in the room).

Natasha showed off a bit of road rash on her hands and arms from skidding across the roof, and Clint complained some more about his back, but Tony and Cap stayed silent.

"Steve, Stark, do join with us in the sharing of our triumph!" Thor invited.

"Nothing exciting over here, I'm afraid." Steve said. "Most of mine have healed."

"And I'm just perfect!" Tony received a glare from Pepper which he ignored entirely.

"Spoil sports!" Clint sulked, getting up gingerly and sliding towards the fridge. His stomach was impatient for something and the smell of the bacon was driving him insane. As he brushed past Tony, a glint in his eye, his hand lunged out, thumping Stark playfully in the chest.

Pepper gasped as a pained grunt escaped Tony. His legs buckled and he tumbled backwards onto the floor. Hissing on the cold tiles, he gasped for air, trying to mask the pain but his face betrayed him with a grimace.

"Stark?" Steve rushed forward but was beaten by the ever vigilant Pepper.

"'M fine," Tony managed to gasp, swatting off the concerned crowd and stumbling back to his feet - but this unsettled his lungs, sending him into a spiralling coughing fit, the agony of which brought him back onto his knees.

Natasha thwacked Clint on the back of the head, hard, and received a yelp as well as his 'how was I supposed to know?' face in return.

Once Tony had recovered, Steve offered him a hand which was reluctantly accepted. "Still feeling perfect, Stark?"

"Yep."

"How many ribs have you broken?" Steve said knowingly.

"Seven and cracked his sternum." Pepper butted in, knowing Tony would only lie to cover the state he was in.

"Much appreciated Pepper and they're only cracked, not broken," Tony huffed and Pepper shrugged unapologetically.

"Clint, you idiot, you could have punctured his lung!" Natasha wasn't surprised to hear of Tony's injuries. She had learned in her time at Stark industries that Tony was very good at hiding his pain, but the others did a double-take. Steve gripped the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Why hadn't he just told them?

Clint was apologizing and rambling about his innocence in the background. Tony was still claiming he was fine and trying to reclaim some personal space, while Bruce and Pepper fought to guide him to a seat so he could regain his breath. Tony succumbed if only to get them to leave him alone and it worked. They backed away, giving Tony his space.

"Hang on, how did you know how many ribs I'd broken? I never said," Tony stared quizzically at Pepper. Realization sunk in. "JARVIS!"

"Yes, sir."

"I am going to dismantle your motherboard and shove it so far…"

"Sir, Colonel Rhodes is here."

"No, no, no, you're not getting out that easily _buddy_ … **"**

"Tony!" the elevator slid silently onto the penthouse floor and Rhodey emerged, arms outstretched.

"Rhodey you son of bitch, where the hell were you?!" Tony questioned, keen to get the attention off of himself.

"Sorry Tones, I would have come but it seemed like you all had it handled." The two were like reunited brothers, causing Pepper to grin and Natasha to smile warmly at the exchange.

"Next time you're planning on flying through a wormhole, please let me know in advance and I'll book a day off fighting the Ten Rings."

 _Wormhole._ Tony stopped dead. The cold and loneliness coursed through him for a moment but he regained himself quickly. Those who noticed Tony's pause also knew about his history with the Ten Rings, and he was extremely grateful for the cover it provided him. He sucked in a few breaths and Rhodey put a hand on his shoulder without changing his expression.

"Ah, how are my old friends?" Tony pulled his trademark smile, composure regained and tapped Rhodey on the shoulder as a signal for him to remove his hand.

"Oh, pretty dead now."

"Glad to hear it." Tony turned around and looked at the others faces, who were clearly expecting some sort of explanation.

"Rhodey, Avengers. Avengers, Rhodey."

Silence.

Tony looked confused, then saw the expectant face of Steve saying 'explain' and rubbed his forehead in annoyance. Seriously, that look burnt holes into him.

"Alright, alright, I'll give you your storytime, Rogers." Tony sank into the chair and sighed quietly. Pepper ran a comforting hand through his hair before settling with the rest of the Avengers and a slightly confused Rhodey to listen.

…

 **Appreciate the fluff while you have it guy's because it won't last long.**

 **A few words in the box below is all I ask. Love or hate, let me know.**


	4. Chapter 4- Story time

_**Wow my chapter titles can be lame. Short chapter… and early days with this story, but hope I'm keeping you intrigued. Take a second to leave a review, just a sentence will make me so happy and anything to improve my writing would be hugely appreciated.**_

 _ **Previously:**_ _The battle of New York… The Avengers stay at Stark tower and the atmosphere is amicable. Tony finds something wrong with him that he and Jarvis can't understand._

 _The death of a prisoner in Asgard releases the most dangerous being in the Universe and Odin is desperate to find it. The ravens Huginn and Muninn are unable to deliver the message to Thor as for some reason they can't approach him and he can't see them. Stark can, on the other hand, and their presence inexplicably freaks him out._

 _Tony struggles with flashbacks of the battle, hiding his injuries until an encounter with Clint ends in him being forced to admit his pain._

 _He agrees to explain the arc reactor to the Avengers._

 **Chapter 4: Story time**

"Once upon a time…" Tony began in his most annoying voice.

"Tony." Pepper knew this was hard for him, and she wasn't mad - her comment was more to remind him that she and Rhodey were there with him and that he didn't have to do anything he didn't want to.

Tony sighed. Maybe that was the case, but he wasn't going to show weakness by not going through with this now.

"Well, you all know my company used to sell weapons." There was a nod of confirmation from most, although to Thor this whole story was fairly new. Apparently, though, he deemed it best to simply listen and try as follow as best he could because he didn't ask for clarification.

"The policy was that we only sold to military," Tony continued, "but, well, I was too busy in my own little world to bother checking. So, I'm presenting my new missile in some Afghani dessert, and riding back in the convey we get attacked. The soldiers in the car with me were killed and when I tried to make a run for it I was blown up by my own missile."

Natasha knew this much, but is hurt more to hear him say it with such dispassion; it was like he thought he deserved it. She frowned and glanced at Rhodes, who was trying to maintain constant eye contact with his friend.

She realised that Tony was acting as if he was addressing them all, but in reality, he was just addressing his best friend. This was hard for him to recall and perhaps the first time he'd done it to anyone other than Col. Rhodes.

"There was this doctor, Yinsen." Tony said, unable to keep a twinge of sadness from his voice. "He pulled as much shrapnel out of me as he could, but he couldn't get it all. _That guy_ was the genius; to do that in a cave with me thrashing around…"

"Thrashing around?" Natasha couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You weren't sedated?"

"Uh.. well, kinda…" Tony mentally cursed his slip. He could never help praising Yinsen but the last thing he wanted was their sympathy.

"No, he wasn't." Rhodey could see Tony trying to back out of answering, and it needed to be said. Tony opened his mouth to object, but Rhodey held up his hand. "Chloroform doesn't count, Tony."

The others were silent for a moment. Natasha was contemplating how she hadn't seen this during her month in Stark's employ. She was supposed to be able to read people like a book. She realised now how much she'd been missing with Stark. Tony only allowed people to see exactly what he wanted them to, and that scared her a little.

The others felt sick to their stomachs.

Tony just wanted it over with.

"Never mind all that." He huffed, jaw clenched mask cracking a little. He regained his composure. "He put in an electromagnet in my chest to keep the rest of the shrapnel out, but that only gave me three months so I built this." He tapped on the glowing circle of light gently, still mindful of his aching ribs. "This keeps the shrapnel out of my heart, so this goes out and it's goodnight Vienna."

"So, what can we do if it does go out?" Steve remained objective as always. A little too objective and a little too inhuman. The others just couldn't stop staring at Tony and the poor guy, who was already uncomfortable, was refusing to show just how awkward and vulnerable this was making him feel.

"I have a few spares around the place, mostly in the lab. If you're lucky it's just the core that needs replacing but sometimes the housing gets damaged and the whole thing needs doing. Basically, Jarvis will talk you through it if anything happens." Tony continued confidently, as if this was a completely normal conversation.

"But what if, for whatever reason, Jarvis is offline?" Bruce spoke up.

Tony contemplated that. He'd considered it before, of course, and it was a fair point. The only way around it was a demonstration and there were problems with that. 1) It would fucking hurt with all his bruising 2) He didn't want to show the Avengers, or Pepper, or Rhodey all that bruising and 3) Taking the reactor out unless absolutely necessary was never a good plan.

He took a deep breath. Did he trust these people? Was he really going to do this?

Nobody noticed Tony's struggle; his face was contemplative though in his head he was now bordering on panic. To Tony, the silence was deafening, accentuating the pounding of his heart thumping in his skull.

"I've done it before," Pepper contributed. She held up her hand before anyone could interrupt; "And I know I won't necessarily be there. My point is it's not something that's easy to describe unless you see it."

"And taking it out isn't exactly safe," Rhodey added.

"Didn't he used to have to do it to change the palladium?" Clint added. He had read Stark's SHIELD file but had come to realize that only what Stark wanted in the file was in that file.

"Yes, but…"

"It's ok, Rhodey," Tony took back the reins, his friends having come to his rescue. "There might be no other way and Bruce has a point."

"Tony, we don't want you to do anything you're uncomfortable with," Bruce emulated Pepper and Rhodey's primary concern.

"Sir, may I suggest a solution?"

"Go ahead, J."

"Sir, there is a disassembled reactor in your lab yet to be disposed of. It would serve as a suitable demonstration."

Thank God for his AI, able to think straight when he certainly didn't seem to be.

"Thank you, J." Tony ran down to the workshop to grab what he needed.

"So," Steve turned to Rhodey and Pepper now Tony was out the room. "They captured Tony because they wanted him to make weapons?"

Steve of course had known the main bulk of the story, he'd read Tony's Shield file, but he could sense there were gaps and wanted to pry for more information while Tony was out of the room.

Rhodey nodded, wary of giving away too much and betraying his friend's confidence. "Yes, but he didn't instead he made the first Iron Man suit and escaped into the desert."

"He made Iron Man in a cave?" Clint hadn't really believed it when he'd read it; yes Tony was a genius but… was that really possible?

"Yes, nowhere near what it is now but it could shoot and it could fly. It just wasn't so good at the landing part." Rhodey confirmed.

Steve jumped straight back in. "So, did he just let them think he was giving them what they wanted?"

"Yes, he refused at first from what I can tell but… let's just say he realized he could use it to his advantage."

"He refused? I'm guessing they didn't take that well," Steve said, backtracking much to Rhodey's irritation.

"No, they wouldn't have. He'll have been tortured; some of his injuries were evidence of that, but you'll never get him to talk about it."

"He's still said nothing to either of us," Pepper backed up Rhodey, feeling slightly guilty about doing this without Tony's permission. She trusted they had his best interests at heart.

"Jeez." Clint exhaled sharply and a painful silence fell for a while in the room. Maybe Tony hadn't had such a perfect little life after all.

"Ok!" Tony appeared back at the top of the stairs oblivious to the conversation in his absence.

"This is the casing, it should normally stay in my chest and the reactor should just twist in nice and easy, really not that hard." He placed the reactor in the middle of the table, keeping hold of the casing.

"But if it looks like this," he needlessly pointed out the obvious buckling on the outsides which had caused him such a problem yesterday, "then it needs to come out - it's damaged."

"Will the damage always be this obvious?" Bruce asked.

"Well… no, but you can leave it unless it's obvious. It should work fine and I'll figure it out after. The priority is to get the new reactor in." Tony looked up to check everyone was following. "If you do have to replace this, hold out the wire - but don't let it touch the casing and don't pull the magnet out at the end."

Pepper blushed, remembering her panic when she had had to help Tony with it the first time. But then, something clicked.

"Where did you get this casing from, Tony?" Tony just stared at his feet, hoping Pepper would drop it. "You replaced that after the battle by yourself? Is that why you were down in the lab?"

"Christ Tony, if the casing's this damaged what the hell do your ribs look like?" Bruce exclaimed.

Tony sighed. He felt backed into a corner. He didn't want or deserve this attention and his chest began to feel heavier and more crushed than it already was. He looked up at the expectant faces, keeping his mask in place. They couldn't know how vulnerable he was feeling right now.

He fisted his hands into the hem of his t-shirt and reluctantly lifted it just enough to answer their question. He was greeted by gasps and sympathetic hisses as the extensive, nearly black, stain across the centre of his chest was revealed.

"I think friend Tony may have triumphed with the best injury." It was the first time Thor had spoken and he was unusually quiet and solemn. Natasha clipped Clint on the back of his head again for thumping Tony earlier. Clint didn't say anything. He knew he deserved it, accident or not.

"No Point Break, your stab wound is pretty cool." Thor smiled weakly at Tony's remark.

"Was that from really all from the battle?" Rhodey asked skeptically.

"Mostly, but sorting out the reactor wasn't pretty this time." Tony admitted, dropping his shirt and covering up as quickly as he could without the others noticing his eagerness. "Getting the reactor out was the main problem; because the casing was deformed, it wouldn't just twist out. If that happens on the field, just yank it out. Yes it might hurt, but it's better than me dying so just get on with it."

"So yesterday you were in the lab, quite literally ripping your heart out of your chest." Trust Clint to be blunt.

Tony rolled his eyes but nodded curtly.

"Why didn't you tell us? We could have helped," Steve asked.

"Because it's not your problem, guys. Unless I'm unconscious, I can deal with it - and seriously, you wouldn't have been much help anyway."

Nobody believed that, but they also had nothing to say. Bruce picked up the casing and reactor inspecting them, practicing sliding them together. It was difficult with the damage but considerably easier than it been for Tony in the lab. It got passed around as mumbles of conversation broke out and Tony took the chance to slip out into the corridor.

Why had he done this? Everyone always said talking about things made you feel better and the others had taken it well, but he felt worse. A lot worse. None of them would ever look at him the same way again and he couldn't help but wonder if her could really trust them. After everything that had happened over the past few days, he'd decided to let a few more people into his circle. But the people he was talking about were the most unlikely friends a person could have. Two of them lied for a living, one of them had serious anger issues, Thor wasn't from this planet, and he wasn't going to get started on Steve. He supposed that even if one of the super spies reported back to SHIELD he could easily hack in and delete anything he wanted from his file, which he had been doing for the past 5 years anyway. But this whole "sharing" thing was bringing up so many bad memories; things he'd never said to Pepper… even things he'd never said to Rhodey.

And then there was that new memory hanging over him, fresh in his mind and refusing to leave him - the thing that had really stopped him sleeping that night. The blasted battle and that damned portal… sometimes he wished he could just press reset and start again. If only life was that easy.

He felt his heart rate rising in his chest and he tried to quell the racing thoughts in his head. But he couldn't. He was drawn back to the thing that was eating most at his mind; by far the worst of his truckload of problems. The question of what Jarvis had found during his injury scan was still weighing on his mind.

He was carrying some sort of weird energy signature. It was inside him, spreading fast like nothing Earth science had ever seen. It was pure energy, but behaved like a living organism; multiplying, attaching itself to his cells one by one. Jarvis was frantically running diagnostics, but Tony didn't have much hope or figuring out what this was. He was baffled, completely, and that didn't happen often - and when it did, it was usually an exciting experience rather than an utterly frightening one. Trust him to come back with a space virus to add to the pile.

Perhaps he'd casually run it past Thor and Banner later, pass it off as something else. He'd have to do it soon, though. This thing was spreading far too fast for his liking.

Rhodey slipped out to join Tony, and Pepper followed. She just hugged him gently around the waist. No words were needed.

"That was brave, Tones. Well done." Rhodey ruffled his friend's hair as Pepper let go. Tony smiled wearily in response. "Feel better?"

"Yeah, a bit," Tony lied, but convincingly. He was usually honest to the only two people he allowed himself to be truly close to, but if it made them less worried he could cope with his feelings alone.

Rhodey could tell, though. He'd known Tony too long. The Avengers had better not screw up Tony's trust like he had done all those years ago - he'd made Tony spill his guts and then not been there to help him through the aftermath, and the consequences had been disastrous.

"Friend Stark! Come quick, there is fire!" The voice of a demigod broke through the pensive silence.

"Oh, God," Tony breathed in the smell of smoke and singed meat. "We forgot about the freaking breakfast!"

…

The minor fire had been put out by Natasha whilst Clint flapped around unhelpfully. The next blaze was left to Steve to fix. Only minutes after Tony had taught him to use it, Thor managed to spark some more flames by trying to put croissants in the toaster. Pepper for once just laughed at the chaos; she so strongly hoped they would decide to stay at the tower. Their presence made the place feel alive and she could see many of them were as much in need of a true home as Tony was in need of the company. Tony was already complaining about the mess they had made of the place and how much it was going to cost to clean up after their mishaps, but she could tell he was happy in reality. The awkwardness of the arc reactor demonstration had already started to fade from his mind and she saw his shoulders slowly relaxing as the morning went on. As she watched him more closely, she realised it was as if little flames had begun burning in his eyes. It was just like it had been when they had first got together. She smiled at the thought as she shut down the automatic call to the fire department.

…

Rhodes could scarcely believe it. That night on the roof, when Tony and Pepper had kissed for the first time, he could have sworn he saw a flicker - the tiniest spark of fire in Tony's eyes. He had jested and told them to get a roof, but when the next time he saw Tony the flames had taken hold. They were tiny, barely noticeable, but they were there all the same. He hadn't seen them for a long, long time, if he was honest he'd never thought he would see them again.

He was overjoyed. He had waited so long and tried so hard to see Tony truly happy again. Maybe everything really would be ok now, maybe he'd get back the friend he'd been missing for so long. But that was selfish. Yes, it had been difficult dealing with the man that Tony had become. Rhodey knew that he owed Tony because he was partly to blame for it in the first place. He'd promised to be there after the crash, and if he had been then maybe none of this would ever have happened. He could never forgive himself for letting his friend down then, and he would spend the rest of his life putting that right.

He'd never thought he'd manage it - well, he couldn't take the credit. It was Pepper, really. That woman was the best thing that could have happened to Tony, finally he had given himself a chance to be happy and he prayed to God that it would last.

And then the Avengers had come along…

From what he had gathered, it had been a difficult start for the "team", but seeing the atmosphere in that Tower when he walked in he could tell that there were a lot of damaged souls that were starting to heal now that they had come together. The simple fact that Tony, despite his reluctance, had opened to this group of people who he had only met yesterday told him that there were going to be some very strong bonds formed over the next few months. Hope was something that had been missing from his life for a very long time, and it was brilliant.

…

 **There are little flits to my other fic the Dying flames in the chapter. If you don't want to read it that's no worries… Call it foreshadowing, as all will be explained in this fic in due course. See you all in chapter 5.**


	5. Chapter 5- Swimming Pools and Debriefs

**The first few chapter of this are my shortest… they get rather long soon.**

 _ **Previously:**_ _The battle of New York… The Avengers stay at Stark tower and the atmosphere is amicable. Tony finds something wrong with him that he and Jarvis can't understand._

 _The death of a prisoner in Asgard releases the most dangerous being in the Universe and Odin is desperate to find it. The ravens Huginn and Muninn are unable to deliver the message to Thor as for some reason they can't approach him and he can't see them. Stark, on the other hand, can, and their presence inexplicably freaks him out._

 _Tony explains his past to the_ _A_ _vengers, narrowly avoiding a panic attack._

 **Chapter 5- Swimming pools and debriefs.**

All this talk of the past was bringing back some very old memories for Tony, most of which he wanted to forget. Yet there was one that he had been wanting so desperately to re-live since the day he got home from that cave. If the team realized how much he still wasn't telling the - if _Pepper_ realised how little she really knew about him - they would be truly astonished and probably quite heartbroken.

Tony had lived through too much to be naïve enough to let people know anything more than what he wanted them to. He was a master of making people think they knew something that he'd given away without realizing. But Tony Stark never made such mistakes. Trust was for dead men, and he was determined to take his secrets with him to the grave. That didn't mean he didn't trust Rhodey and Pepper, nor that he wasn't starting to trust the Avengers. He would certainly willingly lay down his life for any of them; it was just that he knew too well that people let you down. Even people who deserved the trust you placed in them - because people made mistakes, and hurt you without meaning to. And that was a risk he wasn't willing to take anymore.

Tony slipped away the second the others settled back into a rhythm of normal conversation. Of course, he excused himself to his workshop for armour repairs, which he insisted couldn't be delayed (and no, he wouldn't be down there all day, Pepper). But for once that's not where he went.

…

Pepper had always wondered why Tony had insisted on having a pool in the tower. Fair enough, he wanted to show off, and she supposed a pool was on every rich person's list of things to have. But to have built a 50 meter competition pool when he openly admitted that he couldn't swim was strange indeed.

Of course, Pepper had followed Tony the minute he had excused himself - she was worried and wanted to make sure he wasn't going straight down to the workshop and breaking out the drink. She was surprised when at the door he paused and then took the stairs back to the very upper floors, avoiding the elevator entirely. She decided not to follow further; he was probably heading for the roof to get some air, and it wasn't as if he didn't need it. She'd drag him down in half an hour. He certainly didn't need to be left on his own with his thoughts for too long. She was sure that Jarvis would be looking out for him regardless. It had been a stressful few days and she owed it to herself to spend 5 minutes not worrying about Tony.

…

Pepper didn't know the half of it. Tony's mind had always worked far too fast, never turning off, never pausing… and they always badgered him for not getting enough sleep. Try getting sleep when you have designs and equations running through your head in raging torrents! Only when they calmed to gentle streams could he even hope to sleep, and that never really lasted. But he was thankful for that - he had to keep his head busy, because when it wasn't the dark memories would start to eek their way into the corners of his mind. And once they were there, they would grow and linger. It had been this way for most of his life; it was a wonder he hadn't gone insane years ago. In hindsight, that's probably exactly why his father had ended up like he did. He refused to let himself become anything like that man.

He had told Pepper he couldn't swim - yet that couldn't have been further from the truth. His mother had tried everything to allow Tony to have his own life as a child, a more ordinary life, but with Howard as a father that had never been easy. In the end, it had proved impossible. Back in the day, he used to churn between the two tiled walls of the pool at Stark Manor. It was his only escape - from the math and the lab work and the constant put downs of his father. And you know what? Tony had been pretty damn good at it. He'd competed for a little while under an assumed name, until his father saw through his mother's deception and put an end to that _._ Howard's son an athlete? Only morons choose sport over science. But that never stopped him - nothing could. Whenever his father was away, asleep, or passed out drunk (which become more and more frequent as the years passed), he would escape to the pool and only then did he ever truly feel free. Training was like a drug to him; or it had been, until his life fell apart.

Tony sat on the side of the pool for the first time in decades, the smell of the chlorine rising to his nostrils. The heat forced small beads of sweat onto his skin, which contrasted sharply with the cool of the tiles under his bare feet. He was home. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. The chemical taste of the air and the gentle lapping of the water washed a wave of calmness over him and for the first time in years there was nothing whirring round in his head. No fear, no sorrow, nothing, just a sense of freedom and of inner peace. This was incredible.

He dipped a toe lazily into the cool water and looked across the expanse of the pool in front of him. He could have made his living swimming between those two walls, if he'd be born to any other family that is, and he couldn't imagine anything that would have made him happier. His best memories were of standing on starting blocks with a different name on the scoreboard, no pressure on his shoulders other than his own expectations and completely equal with everyone standing round him.

Tony had barely noticed that he'd allowed himself to slip into the water. The pool was deep at both ends and the water soaked into his clothes as he sank slowly below the surface. He lay on his back, totally submerged and stared to the surface above. A long trail of bubbles left his nose and twirled slowly upwards. He loved the way the light danced on the water in little ripples, there was no pattern to it, an unpredictable beauty that didn't need understanding.

But then the spotlights sensed the movement and switched on. Tony was blinded and screwed his eyes shut. All too quickly he has reminded why he didn't come here anymore.

 _It was dark and icy cold. He was desperate for breath but all that surrounded him was an inky black pool. He tried to move, to fight back to the surface but the pain from his chest was paralysing and four strong pairs of hands were forcing him down. Panic consumed him, he needed to breath. He could feel his consciousness fading fast_ _-_ _he thrashed and thrashed while the pain just continued to rise. He gasped for air and was rewarded with a lung full of water. Every fib_ _er_ _of his body was screaming for air, but there was none to be had. He tried to scream, but all that escaped was a stream of bubbles._

 _Then the hands moved and he was forced upwards, up towards the blinding spot_ _-_ _lights_ _,_ _his full weight yanked by his hair. For five seconds he gasped for air, greedily gulping in the oxygen. It felt only like the blink of an eye before he was forced under again._

Tony gasped for air and clung onto the poolside for dear life. Panic filled the mind that only seconds ago had been utterly at ease. He coughed and sputtered, the water he had choked on now spilling out onto the tiles. He took a minute, trying to breathe, to calm down and drag his mind away from that memory. There was no Jarvis to help him down here. This was the only place in the tower he hadn't been installed. It made him feel very alone but in this case, he was grateful, he couldn't let the others see him like this.

Tony was freezing, his entire body shaking as the shock racked through him. He should have known this was going to happen. Even now, he had to psych himself up just to put his face under the shower. Yet, somehow, he had just felt that he could do it. Perhaps after all that had happened in the last 48 hours, everything he'd overcome, he'd felt that maybe he would be able to take back one of the things in his life that he had lost and that had mattered so much to him. Being in Afghanistan had made him into Iron Man, made him take back responsibility for his life, but of all the ways they could have tortured him waterboarding was perhaps the worst. Other than taking his hands, he guessed. They had made him fear the only thing that had used to give him strength. He couldn't let them win. He had escaped them. It was years ago, and yet they still had that hold over him. No, he had pushed too far today but that wasn't going to stop him. He'd have to take it slowly one step at a time but he would beat this.

He had decided. He was going to swim again.

…

It had taken all of Tony's strength the haul himself out of the pool with his shaking limbs. The exertion made him feel like he'd broken his ribs all over again and the permanent ache of the arc reactor had grown into a crescendo, stabbing like a knife in the chest. He had somehow made it up to his room, got out of his sodden clothes and showered to remove the smell of the chlorine, though this time no amount of self-convincing could make him put his face under the jet.

He put back on his usually cheery face to greet the avengers in the penthouse. They'd settled down to watch a movie and Tony joined them, but made sure that he took the single seat to avoid anyone jostling his aching ribs.

Pepper greeted him with a soft smile, but noticed the change of clothes. "You've changed."

"Yeah got engine oil everywhere." Tony replied seamlessly

"What cars you got down there?" Clint looked interested.

"Not many, most of them are in Malibu. I'll show you some time if you want."

Pepper knew Tony hadn't gone to the lab; Jarvis had confirmed as much. She'd assumed he'd gone to the roof, so why the change of clothes? She frowned in thought. Tony was acting strangely, and she supposed it was to be expected. She and Rhodey exchanged a look that spoke volumes. They would both be keeping a very close eye on Tony Stark.

The movie of choice was Titanic. Apparently there had been some reference earlier in the day which Steve had obviously failed to understand, so the Avengers had taken it upon themselves to educate him. The atmosphere in the tower was fantastic, Clint's running commentary finally got on Natasha's nerves, resulting in a quite comical fight to which Clint quickly surrendered. With a strong battle of wits in the room, mainly between Clint and Tony, Steve and Thor didn't get to hear much of the film and after the inevitable sing along the room descended into silence as the movie drew to a close. Natasha teased Clint for tearing up, which of course was because of something in his eye, but there was barely a dry eye in the house by the time the final credits began rolling.

Water, freezing cold water. They had to pick a film with a load of drowning people in it. Tony closed his eyes and set as many calculations running as he could to keep the memories from returning. Thankfully, it seemed to work, but not before Bruce noticed him turning pale.

"You ok, Tony?"

"Yeah, just peachy, thanks. You?"

"I'm fine Tony, you just look a bit pale. That's all."

"I must agree Man of Iron, you do look pasty."

Everyone was staring now, and Tony had to admit he didn't feel so good, but perplexingly he realised it wasn't to do with the film.

"Seriously guys I'm…. Ow! Fine!" Suddenly, Tony's body was racked with coughs and _shit_ that hurt his ribs. Tony doubled over as his chest rattled; Bruce was instantly by his side, quickly followed by the others. He was going to puncture a lung if he wasn't careful.

"Just breathe for me, Tony." Bruce had his hand lightly on his back.

"I'm …" he coughed several times, "… trying!" he bit back.

"Tony," Pepper scolded, but it was a tone of worry rather than annoyance.

Finally, the coughs started to subside and Tony's pain was relieved.

"Seriously guys, I was fine until you all started asking me questions."

"Tony, you should get checked out." Oh, listen to Steve! Ever the voice of reason.

"I did! Tell them, Jarvis."

"I can confirm that Sir's injuries at the time of his assessment did not need further treatment."

"See!"

"But in light of recent events I would suggest further diagnostics to detect if there has been any change to his condition."

"Oh, for God's sake, Jarvis!" Tony practically screamed at his AI. The room recoiled in shock.

"Tony, seriously, what's the big deal?" Clint was next to join the bug-Tony-party and Tony was about to make his next childish retort, but he knew he was fighting a losing battle and he was really, really tired.

"Fine whatever, I'll get Jarvis to give me another look over." Tony still sounded very irritated which made Pepper and Rhodey blink in confusion. Something wasn't right. Yes Tony could be a child when it came to these things, but he was rarely this irate.

"Sorry Tony, that's not good enough. We're heading out to the SHIELD debrief. I called Fury earlier and we've kept them waiting long enough. Afterwards, you are having a full medical check-up." Rhodey winced. Steve giving Tony orders was unlikely to end well.

"No way."

"Yes way."

"Jesus Steve, seriously. Get lost."

"Come on Stark, you know it's for the best." Ok, so now Natasha as well.

"Tony, please. We just want to be sure you're ok." With Bruce now standing in as well he was unequivocally outnumbered and far too tired to bother fighting.

He let out a long sigh with head in hands, massaging his temples. He didn't feel great right now, but that made no difference.

He flicked his hand in submission and the others instantly relaxed. Tony had no intention, however, of going to medical.

"Ok, we leave in 30."

The room started to empty and once Tony had gone off in a huff, Steve pulled Rhodey and Pepper to one side.

"Why does he object so strongly to a simple check-up? It's just reckless!" Steve wasn't angry, just frustrated. The team had grown very close in such a short time, and frustration at Tony not looking after himself was a feeling Pepper and Rhodey knew all too well.

"He's not being reckless, Steve. I know he seems stubborn, but nine times out of ten he actually does get himself sorted out." Pepper wasn't lying when she said that. He _was_ stubborn, but he could be sensible when necessary.

"Well what's his problem with having it done at SHIELD?"

"He doesn't like people around the arc reactor." This time it was Rhodey's turn to explain. "He doesn't want that technology in anyone else's hands and he doesn't trust SHIELD once inch."

"Why doesn't he trust SHIELD?"

"Seriously, Steve? They're a bunch of spies. Why _would_ you trust them?"

Steve understood. He knew there was more to this, which is why he hadn't called into question Tony's childish behavior when he didn't know the facts. The arc reactor was a sensitive point for Tony and he could see why he was right to want to keep it under wraps.

…..

Tony Stark, a grown man and head of a multi-billion dollar company, was sulking like a four-year-old. He may have been backed into a corner on this one, but he didn't have to like it. It had made the car journey to SHIELD headquarters very awkward, and Pepper and Rhodey had been dragged along in case "Stark control" was needed.

Pepper had never seen him this irritable, and he certainly hadn't got any more color in his cheeks despite his obvious annoyance. Bruce was keeping a wary eye on him. Tony's breathing was shallow and fast - probably a way to try and curb the pain from his ribs, which Bruce could imagine was starting to make Tony very touchy. He knew Stark hadn't taken anything since breakfast, and acetaminophen was hardly going to take the edge off seven broken ribs. So, if all they could do at this SHIELD medical was get him some morphine, it would be a success.

When they arrived, Tony went into the debriefing room and sat in his chair without saying a word. He wanted this over with, he was really feeling shit now and he ached all over.

Bruce held Steve back at the door with a few words of warning. "Look, Steve. Tony hasn't been very vigilant on the painkiller front. He hasn't had any since this morning, so he's going to be suffering, and you've already pissed him off..." Bruce regretted his choice of phrase at Steve's protesting look and held up his hands apologetically. "Look, all I'm saying is that if he behaves like an ass, just try and shrug it off."

"That won't be easy." Natasha had overheard and knew from experience. "Tony can be unbearable when he's in a good mood, so I have a feeling this debrief is going to be more than a little difficult."

"Oh, joy!" Steve, for one, was tired, and really couldn't be dealing with this. "Tell me honestly. Did I push too hard for this check-up?" Steve still had confidence in his decision, but he valued the opinion of his team.

"No Steve, you did the right thing. He's been getting paler and paler since we left and he will be the last one to admit he's feeling like shit." Rhodey said, joining the conversation, "and honestly? Thank you for looking out for him. He'd never had listened to me or Pepper."

"Why would he listen to me over you?" Steve asked.

"He respects you." It was obvious to Natasha. She was, after all, trained to notice these things. Despite this, it made Steve want to laugh out loud. Tony Stark respected _him_? Well that was more than a little difficult to believe. Yet Natasha seemed deadly serious, and he trusted her instincts.

They left Steve with his thoughts and entered the debriefing room. It wasn't long before he followed. Pepper and Rhodey waited outside - they weren't really needed and they certainly didn't have security clearance, but SHIELD had overlooked it under the circumstances.

"So, it seems you finally decided to show up. Nice to know that Earth's mightiest heroes are so reliable." Nick Fury wasn't best pleased about being kept waiting. But then again, Tony thought, he never seemed to be pleased about anything. God, he was such a prick.

"Get lost, Fury. We saved the planet. Give us a break."

Fury's eyebrow raised, but no annoyance crept into his tone. He wondered what he had done to deserve this attitude from Stark… today, anyway. But the guy looked like death warmed up so he decided it would be best if he tried to ignore it.

"Well good evening to you too, Stark. I suppose this delay was down to you."

"So what if it was, cyclops? We wouldn't be here at all if we hadn't been cleaning up after your mess."

You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. Natasha held her head in her hands in frustration, but for whatever reason Fury decided not to react which made the other Avengers incredibly grateful.

"Are we missing somebody? Because last time I checked I had six avengers." Fury asked as he looked up from his paperwork.

Right on cue the door opened, and Thor stepped into the room. "I apologize for my tardiness. I was checking that my brother was still secure, and I am confident he will remain so. Before we begin I have something that must be known - and please note that this is not a request. My brother and I will be returning home tomorrow noon. He will face Asgardian justice and I will require the space gem, known to you as the tesseract, to do so."

"That's fine by me Thor, but we certainly don't want to see either of them back here any time soon. Do you understand?"

"You have my solemn word, Director Fury."

"Good. Now that that's settled, let's get the facts down, shall we?"

...

Breathing was getting more and more difficult for Tony. He couldn't seem to get enough air in and the pain was stopping him from breathing any more deeply. Was it just him, or was it hot in here? He pulled at the neck of his T-shirt in an attempt to loosen it. The others seemed to be content with the temperature, but to Tony it felt like someone had put him in a sauna while stealing away all the air.

He realised he was wheezing now, but he was sitting far enough away that no one could hear him. He was coughing regularly, but trying hard to hide it, timing it to moments were there was more than one person talking to drown him out. It was like his airways were closing up. The room looked a little hazy now and if he was honest he couldn't really remember what he was doing here. He felt like he was drowning and that made his chest clamp up in anxiety, snatching away what little air had been getting into his lungs. He squeezed his eyes shut and try to force the memories away.

Nobody had noticed Tony deteriorate. They had been well and truly caught up in the debrief until Fury noticed Stark, slouched in his seat, eyes shut and clearly not paying any attention.

"Are we keeping you up, Stark?"

"Hmm, what's going on?" Tony didn't seem irritated anymore, he seemed dazed.

"Nice to know you're paying attention."

"Why am I here?"

"Well, Stark, I really don't know, considering you've made no positive contributions since you arrived."

"What am I…? Why… Jesus." Tony started coughing and the annoyed faces around him turned to concern.

"Tony, you ok?" Tony was clearly not ok and Bruce felt the question was a little redundant.

Tony continued to cough and then looked round the room confused. "What the hell is going on and what are these fucking birds doing in here?" Tony was out of his seat now, his face covered in sweat.

"Birds?" Natasha cocked her head, Bruce got up and started to edge towards Tony.

"Yeah, fucking ravens, they won't stop staring at me!" Tony's breathing was very, very laboured now and he looked seriously in danger of falling.

"Ravens?" Thor was suddenly alert, this seemed too much of a coincidence after his dreams of Huginn and Muninn.

"I need medics to the debriefing room, now!" Fury yelled, talking into his ear piece.

Tony swayed on the spot and looked around, dazed. It was clear he had no idea what was going on. He was practically gasping for air now and his oxygen starved body finally gave in.

Tony's knees buckled and his eyes rolled back in his head. Bruce was there to catch him before he hit the floor.

"Shit!" Steve was by his side instantly, ready to help move the semi-conscious man into a more comfortable position.

"Tony, can you hear me?" Bruce received a grunt and a hand that tried to swat him away. Bruce was trying to check Tony's pupils - he was completely confused and hallucinating. Was there a head injury that had been missed?

"Bruce, what are you doing here?" Tony was panting painfully and he was starting to shake uncontrollably.

"Bruce, can we help?" Steve felt helpless.

"Uh, no. Just get the EMTs here ASAP." Bruce was completely focused on Tony. There were no signs of a head injury…

"They're on the way."

Bruce barely heard. Tony was quickly turning gray, his skin cold and clammy and his lips tinted blue at the corners.

"Cyanosis!" Bruce exclaimed to a room of puzzled faces. "I think he's punctured a lung. He's not getting enough oxygen and his body is going into shock."

The door burst open and the medics rushed in, quickly followed by a concerned Pepper and Rhodey who started to take charge.

Pepper's objectivity and calmness was impressive considering the state Tony was in. "Right everyone out the way, give him some space, let Bruce and the EMTs do their jobs." In reality, she was panicking and on the verge of tears, desperate to know what was happening.

Within seconds Tony was on a stretcher, oxygen mask in place and on his way out of the room. The whole room started to empty, everyone wanting to follow their injured comrade.

"Look guys, I know you want to stay with him. But we have to stay out of the way." There were reluctant nods of agreement to Pepper's statement - they respected her request, knowing that Pepper and Rhodey would long to be with Tony more than any of them could imagine.

The minutes ticked by, each seeming longer than the last. Pepper started to feel her composure breaking when a voice stopped her thoughts.

"Pepper," Bruce poked his head around the door "He's asking for you." Pepper was silently pleased she had an excuse to go to him. She tapped Rhodey on the shoulder sympathetically as she left. "I'll keep you updated."

Tony was sat slouched on a bed in the med bay, propped against the wall and clutching onto the oxygen mask for dear life. He was still pale and frowning in confusion, but at least his lips were no longer blue.

"Tony, how are feeling? Do you know where you are now?" Bruce was carefully examining Tony's ribs. Knowing Tony's sensitivity about the arc reactor, he felt it should be him rather than some stranger on the SHIELD medical team.

"Yeah yeah, I'm in the fucking hospital," Tony gasped, seemingly more lucid, the oxygen doing its work. Bruce cocked his head to one side.

"Near enough," he muttered.

Bruce was confused. Tony _must_ have punctured a lung, it was the only explanation but none of his ribs seemed to be too out of place.

"We need to scan him, find out what's going on with his lungs."

"I thought you said he'd punctured a lung?" Pepper was now even more concerned. She had been constantly talking to the still confused Tony. His oxygen starved brain was struggling to comprehend what was going on, and his mumblings had been subsiding - but now he seemed to be deteriorating again and no one seemed sure of the cause.

"Well, yeah - that's what it looks like. I thought one of his ribs might have broken off and punctured it but none of them seem to have moved. There's other ways it could have happened, but I want to check, I don't want to make any mistakes."

Pepper nodded curtly and turned her attention back to Tony. He was just staring into space, still shaking, albeit less violently. He was fighting hard for breath.

"Pepp," Tony whined. This was shit. It hurt like hell, and if he was honest he was scared.

" I know Tony, I know. It's going to be fine."

Suddenly, Tony started gagging and slumped onto the bed. There was something coming out of his mouth, Bruce pulled the mask off quickly. Foam, pink foam, was coming from his mouth.

"He's drowning."

"What?" Now Pepper really was confused. "How can he be drowning? He's on dry land!"

"It's secondary drowning. He's got water in his lungs and it's drawing more fluid into them from his body. That's why he isn't getting the oxygen."

"Ok, so what do we do?"

"You start CPR I'll get some diuretics." It was the first time any of the SHIELD medics had spoken and Bruce had to credit them, they knew what they were doing.

Bruce had hoped he'd never have to do CPR on a friend, and that's what he considered Tony. The foam meant that Tony was getting no oxygen in, and also meant Bruce couldn't do mouth to mouth. So, he just continued chest compressions at 120bpm, grimacing as Tony's broken ribs shifted underneath his hands. He might end up treating Tony for a punctured lung after all.

Thankfully, the medic was back quickly and they got the drugs into Tony's blood. It seemed like far too long between the injection and the time that Tony stop foaming at the mouth, yet in reality is was a lot more quickly than Bruce could have hoped.

"Ok get him back on the oxygen." Bruce didn't stop compressions till Tony started breathing on his own again and then sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. That had been too close. Why on earth did Tony have secondary drowning? He hadn't been in the water.

"Pepper, he's out of the woods -but do you have any idea why or how he could have water in his lungs?"

"Not a clue!"

"Well, I need to go and calm down if you don't mind." Pepper nodded in understanding and Bruce quickly took his leave.

Bruce was bombarded as soon as he left the med bay.

"Is he ok?" Rhodey was desperate for answers.

"What happened?"

"What's wrong with him?"

"Guys, give him some space." Natasha could see Bruce was shaken and tired and they didn't need the Hulk making another appearance today.

Bruce took a deep breath. "He's going to be fine. His breathing is much better now, and I think if we give him an hour on the oxygen he should be back to his normal charming self."

"So, I'm guessing his behavior was not just down to him being an ass?" Natasha asked, noticing Bruce's subtle tone.

"Yes, the lack of oxygen wasn't exactly helping."

Bruce could see the room had more questions for him but Natasha was quick to come to his rescue.

"Come on Bruce, I'll find you a quiet room." She pulled him away quickly then turned back to the others. "Come get us if he wakes up."

…

 **I know I'm cruel but I just can't stop hurting Tony. I like a bit of back story, there is so many potential gaps to fill with his character… but if you didn't like my take, not to worry** **! T** **here is only the odd AU background stuff in the rest of it.**


	6. Chapter 6- Searching for answers

_Previously: The Avengers started bonding after the battle of New York, though Tony was hiding his injuries and_ _was_ _finally forced to tell them about the arc reactor._

 _All the while_ _, t_ _he death of a prisoner in Asgard has released the most dangerous being in the_ _u_ _niverse and Tony is increasingly worried about the strange, inexplicable energy signature attaching itself to his cells._

 _Suffering from whirlwind memories_ _-_ _some old, some new_ _-_ _Tony tries to get into the pool and face his fear left over from Afghanistan. It doesn't end well._

 _The Avengers finally go to the debrief and fail to notice Tony_ _'s health_ _declining. Eventually_ _,_ _he can't breathe and Bruce and the medics discover he's suffering from secondary drowning and manage to stabili_ _z_ _e him._

 **Chapter 6- Searching for answers**

Tony looked so calm now. It was a stark contrast to the events just 15 minutes ago. Pepper smiled at the pun. It was like he was sleeping, but he didn't look quite relaxed. She ran her fingers through his hair and then remembered what he had said to her last night. He couldn't sleep on his back. Maybe she should turn him? No, that wasn't a good idea; an X-ray had confirmed that somehow his ribs had survived the CPR without too much further damage, but Tony was going to be horribly sore when he woke up. As if he wasn't already.

It had also revealed to Bruce the extent of the damage that allowed the arc reactor to fit. It was sickening. He had burnt the film - Tony wouldn't want SHIELD having it on their files and it pleased Pepper to know Tony had a few more people looking out for him nowadays.

But secondary drowning? Pepper didn't understand. Tony hadn't been near any water. Bruce had asked her to think about it, but there was nothing. He'd had a shower when he got back from the battle and the shower door had been broken. Tony said he'd slipped... but maybe he had panicked, swallowed. Yet Bruce said it was unlikely; he'd had to have inhaled a good amount of water and even with Tony's power showers it would have taken a long time. What had happened since they got back? He'd been in the lab when she got there, they'd had a food fight, and gone to sleep.

He'd flown over water in the battle, so it was possible that he may have gone in for whatever reason. Yet, secondary drowning sets in after less than 24 hours, so it had to have been last night or more likely that morning.

Well, it wasn't last night - unless it was the shower. This morning, they'd made breakfast, had that very awkward arc reactor lesson and then… Tony had gone down to the lab. But he hadn't, he went up to the roof. But did he? She didn't know that for certain - she'd only guessed. What else was up those stairs?

"Hey Pep, how's he doing?" Rhodey looked sick with worry being kept away for so long.

"Take a look for yourself." She smiled. Tony was a much more normal color now and breathing evenly, if still a little too fast.

"I'll be back in a minute." Pepper took her phone out of her pocket and stepped into the cool light of the hall. She dialed the connection to Jarvis and the answer was almost instant.

"Miss Potts, how I can I be of assistance."

"When Tony went "down to the lab" this morning, where did he really go?"

"I'm afraid I'm not really sure, Miss Potts. As you know, he entered the south stairwell without entering the lab as he had suggested, but he was not on my sensors for the next 15 minutes."

"How could that happen?" Pepper was now very confused.

"Well, I can only assume that he went to the pool floor, which is the only place in the tower where I have no access."

"The pool?" That fitted with the drowning, but why would Tony go there if he couldn't swim?

"Yes, and may I also note that when he next appeared both he and his clothes were soaking wet."

Pepper hung up after thanking the AI. How it could be that now that she knew roughly what had happened, it made even less sense? She stepped back into the room with a slightly perplexed look on her face.

"You ok, Pepper?" Steve slid back into the chair after having leaving Rhodey and Clint at Tony's side.

"Yeah, fine. Just thinking through a problem." She glanced at Tony who was now on his side. Had he woken up? No, the fact Rhodes was stood still rearranging the pillows to keep the weight off his ribs answered her question. They had moved him, she was pleased.

Rhodey saw Pepper look at him with a contemplative look and was a bit concerned.

"Rhodey, can I talk to you for a second?" She stepped outside and Rhodey followed cautiously.

"Uh, Pepper, if this is because we moved him - don't worry, we were careful. I know it's a risk, but it's just that he was on his back… and, well…"

"I know, I know. He can't sleep on his back. Rhodey, I trust you. I wouldn't lecture you!"

Rhodey cocked his head to the side. "Wait. How do you know that?"

"He told me the other night." Pepper glanced back into the room and at Tony. "God, he does look so much more relaxed now. Why can't he sleep on his back?"

"Honestly? Don't know," Rhodey replied smoothly, but Pepper could tell he was lying through his teeth. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?" he said quickly, changing the subject.

"It's Tony, he had secondary drowning. That's why all this has happened."

"What? How?"

"This morning, when he said he was going to the workshop... well, he didn't. He went up to the pool. Why would he do that? He can't swim."

Rhodey scoffed at the last remark. Tony can't _swim_?

"What, what is it Rhodey?"

"He told you that? He told you that he can't swim?"

"Yes! Was he lying? Why would he do that?" She shook her head. "Rhodey, what's going on?" Pepper was understandably flustered now, and Rhodey was starting to put everything together.

"Let me figure this out, Pepper. I think I know what's going on. It's going to be fine, just play it cool with the others. We don't need them asking questions."

"Bruce knows, but he's letting me handle it. Why does he keep things from me, Rhodes? Doesn't he trust me?"

"It's not that, Pepper. I wouldn't know half the things I do about him if I hadn't been there. It's impossible to explain why he's like this without telling you the full story, and I couldn't betray his confidence - even to you."

"Ok Rhodey, I understand," Pepper said finally. She was bitterly disappointed to learn that there was more that Tony didn't share with her. She'd thought they had something good going here. Rhodey put a hand on her shoulder in comfort.

"It's not just you, Pepper. I know there's a hell of a lot he hasn't told me either. That's just Tony, but it doesn't mean he doesn't love you, because he really does. Believe me."

Pepper knew that, but it was nice to hear it from someone else. They stood there for a minute before Pepper decided she needed some air. Rhodey watched her go and then returned to Tony's beside. Natasha and Bruce came back after a while, stuffing more chairs into the tiny room. Now all there was to do was wait.

...…

Clint was bored. Bored and worried; it wasn't a good combination. It had only been two hours since Stark had passed out but it felt like forever. Natasha was getting sick of Clint constantly shuffling, Bruce was dozing, Steve was standing guard, and Rhodey was on the edge of his seat ready to leap to his friend's side the moment there was any sign of him waking up. Natasha could tell he had done this before, too many times, but she was glad that Pepper was taking her time to get some air. She had been so calm through the whole ordeal - and if it had shaken Bruce, Pep would need a good amount of time to let out her emotions.

"This sucks!" Clint sunk further into his seat and folded his arms in annoyance.

"Clint, don't be a dick," Natasha flung back.

"Clint sucks what?" A muffled noise came from across the room which had everyone on their feet. Tony grinned at his own joke from underneath the mask, and his eyes blinked open.

"Tony!" Tony already had the mask off by the time Rhodey got to him. "My man. You have to stop doing that to me."

"Sorry guys, but right now I'd be more worried about the fact that Clint hasn't denied what I just accused him of."

Clint tried hard not to respond. It lasted all of 2 seconds. A pillow flew across the room and bounced off the wall above Tony's head. The archer knew better than to hit him after the incident with the ribs earlier, but it certainly didn't make his situation any better.

"OMG, call the press, bird-brain just missed his target. Your perfect record is gone now - you're all here to bear witness," he said, gesturing around the room. "Such a shame Clint, such a shame. You're never getting that back."

"God, if you weren't injured I'd… shit… just… Screw you, Stark!"

"Please don't, Clint. Unlike you, I'm not inclined that way."

"Oh for God's sake! I'm going to shut up now." Clint was starting to wish Tony had stayed asleep as the room chuckled softly at Clint's expense. How could someone who'd just woken up be so sharp with the comebacks?

"Wise move feathers. JESUS!" Tony yelped. He had tried to sit up and got a shock. His chest, which had hurt _a lot_ before, was now in absolute agony. "Who the hell used my chest as a punching bag?" he wheezed.

"That was me." Bruce held his hand up. "And it serves you right for stopping breathing." He got up wearily and wandered towards his patient.

"Fair enough."

Rhodey placed his hands underneath Tony and helped him sit up slowly. Bruce managed to slide some morphine into Tony's IV while he was distracted - at least that made him feel a _little_ less guilty about the extra damage he had done. Tony was certainly good at masking his pain, and that why he was in this mess in the first place. It was a good thing Bruce had acted when he did, because the first thing Tony did was to yank out his IV and try to get up. Fortunately, Steve's strong hands pressed him firmly back down.

"Nope, you're spending 20 more minutes on the oxygen, and then if Bruce is happy we'll take you home."

"Rogers…"

"No buts, Tony. If we hadn't managed to drag you here in the first place you'd be 6 feet under by now, so your complaints don't have a leg to stand on."

Tony glared at Steve for that full 20 minutes, at which Rhodey couldn't help but giggle. Not at his friend's annoyance, of course, but at the fact that for once it wasn't directed at him!

"Not funny." Tony mumbled from underneath the mask.

"Kinda is." Oh! So now Clint decided to take his own back. If that's how it was, he was declaring war and Clint didn't even know it yet.

.….

It turned into a double movie day. After the events of that day, a quiet night was certainly needed. The Avengers had taken it upon themselves to continue Steve's education by means of film, and Tony was horrified to learn that he hadn't seen any Disney flicks. The Lion King ended up as the movie of choice. Natasha complained, but secretly really enjoyed the film. Though no one even pretended to be impressed with Clint's rendition of Hakuna Matata.

Tony could feel the eyes on him, watching for any sign of discomfort, but if he was honest he felt fine. The morphine was really doing the trick and for the first time since before the battle the pain from his ribs was nothing more than a niggle at the back of his mind.

They all got another early night, well fed and drained from the day's events. They had all enjoyed the company and accommodation of the past few days. The tower was all but silent by 10pm, apart from Tony in the lab organizing a time for the glass across the balcony to be replaced.

Tony was all but ready to go to bed. He was tired, and the morphine was slowly but surely starting to wear off. He was hoping that he could get himself to sleep before it really started to hurt. He was anxious to get on with the suit repairs - he felt it was his duty to be sure that he was never out of action. He knew it was unlikely that there would be anyone stupid enough to attack after their display in what had been dubbed by the media as "The Battle of Manhattan", but then again not all villains were renowned for their intelligence.

"Jarvis, run suit diagnostics and have it ready for me in the morning."

"Yes sir. Colonel Rhodes is requesting access."

"Show him in, J."

The door clicked open as requested. Rhodey just stood in the door for a while watching Tony wrap up his work.

"What's eating you, Rhodey?"

Rhodey didn't really know how to go about this.

"Secondary drowning."

Tony stopped what he was doing and blinked at his friend in confusion. "Secondary drowning?"

"Yes, Tony. That's why you collapsed earlier today."

"Oh." Tony's reaction was genuine. He honestly hadn't known what was wrong with him - he'd just assumed. "Shit." Rhodey was going to want answers.

"You told Pepper you couldn't swim."

"Yes." Tony didn't really know what to say at this point.

"Why?"

"Because it's kind of true."

"Since when?" Rhodey was getting a bit irate now, which rubbed off on his friend.

"Because I haven't swum in ages."

"Tony, a swimmer like you isn't just going to forget how to swim." But then Rhodey started asking the right questions. "When did you stop? Why did you stop?"

Tony sighed and put down what he was working on. " When Dad died. And then after Afghanistan it wasn't even an option." He answered simply.

Realization hit Rhodey hard. "Oh no, tell me they didn't. Tony please tell me they didn't…"

"Use waterboarding,?" Tony rubbed the back of his neck, making an effort to sound nonchalant. "Yep. One of their favorite methods, as it turns out.

"Shit, so all this time…"

"Yeah, Tony Stark's been scared of water. I know, pathetic, isn't it?"

"Tony, that's not pathetic, it's…" Rhodey paused. He felt sick now. He knew how much swimming meant to Tony - it was the only time he had ever been able to be himself when he'd been young.

"I'm so sorry." Rhodey didn't know what to say.

"Don't be, it's not your fault." Tony was furiously cleaning the same inch of metal over and over again. Idiot! How can he have not realized he had secondary drowning! He was kicking himself for getting so carried away.

"So, this morning, what happened?"

"I decided I would try again and I panicked." Tony's responses were annoying Rhodey. Couldn't he just give him a full answer? "It was great, Rhodey. I haven't felt so at home in a long time. I just went a bit too far. Something triggered the memory and, well ,you can guess." Better, Rhodey thought to himself.

"Are you going to try again?" Rhodey hoped to God the answer would be yes. If Tony could get back to swimming. The good it would do him would be endless.

"Yes." Tony didn't hesitate to answer - he'd made up his mind.

"But..."

"Yes, Rhodey, I'll be careful next time. And yes, the workmen are installing Jarvis on the pool deck as we speak."

Rhodey breathed a sigh of relief. "Will you let me help you?"

"No." His answer was short and chopped. At Rhodey's expression, he softened. "It's not that I don't want you to - it's just… this is something I have to do by myself."

"Ok." Rhodey understood when Tony needed space. He hadn't had such an honest and open conversation with his best friend for a long time and it was weird. Good weird, but he could have sworn he had just heard some of the old Tony in there… or should he say the young Tony.

"Promise me one thing, Tony. If you do start training again, please just take it a bit easier than you used to." Having Jarvis installed wasn't just important if Tony panicked. In the old days, back at MIT, Rhodey used to watch Tony train - and he was an animal. Once, he'd had to pull him out of the pool when he'd passed out from exertion, and the last thing he wanted to find was Tony face down on the bottom because nobody had noticed.

Tony knew he couldn't promise what Rhodey was asking. There was something when he was swimming that he couldn't control, a burning desire to just keep pushing. It was the same thing that drove him to spend days in the lab without food or a break, to work until he passed out or was dragged out. If that crazy drive was still there, he couldn't promise to take it easy. He just couldn't help himself. But Rhodey knew that, so Tony gave the closest thing he could to what had been requested.

"I promise I'll be careful."

"Thank you." That was good enough for Rhodey.

The two embraced for a moment and then Tony yawned. It was time to go to sleep.

"Jarvis, lights." The room fell into darkness as the two departed, and the door swung shut, locking behind them.


	7. Chapter 7 -Departures

**Sorry guys, I know this feels a little bit like a filler chapter but I needed to set the scene. To compensate I've posted two chapters in one day, to also make up for the lack of an update yesterday. Massive thank you to anyone who has followed/faved and hope you are enjoying it.**

Previously _:_ _The d_ _eath of a prisoner in Asgard has released the most dangerous being in the_

 _Universe and Tony is increasingly worried about the strange, inexplicable energy signature attaching itself to his cells._

 _After trying to face his fear of water, Tony suffers from secondary drowning at the SHIELD debrief and is stabili_ _z_ _ed by Bruce and the medics._

 _Confronted by Rhodey_ _,_ _Tony opens up and admits he was waterboarded by the_ _Te_ _n_ _Ri_ _ngs._

 **Chapter 7- Departures**

Midday came around all too soon.

Tony had slept through till the early hours before the ache of his ribs became too much. He slid out of bed at 4am without waking Pepper and went down to the workshop. As promised, Jarvis had the suit diagnostics ready so he got to work. He was really hoping they would all stay. Maybe having Steve would be a challenge - he brought back bad memories. But he supposed they'd be able to get along most of the time. He didn't really expect them to stay - I mean, why would anyone want to stay with him? But they'd seemed keen when he offered. He decided to remain hopeful.

Steve spent the morning thinking about Tony's offer. It would be great to have a place to stay at the tower and it would be helpful for the whole team to stay together, but Thor had to go back with Loki and Steve felt that he really had to go too. He needed to get back into the world again. Stand on his own two feet for a while. He'd announce his intentions later. He wasn't so sure how the others would take it, seeing as he'd been the first to back up Tony's suggestion, but for once he needed to be selfish. He had every intention of coming back - he certainly did support the idea of the Avengers having a permanent home base, and the last few days had been the most fun he'd had in a long time.

Thor, of course, had to go home. He wanted so badly to stay and find Jane. It would be nice to have somewhere where he was welcome on Midgard and be close to her. But in truth, he did not know when he would see Earth again, with the bifrost destroyed. It would take a long time to repair, and he would be all but stuck on Asgard the moment he returned. It pained him to have been so close to Jane and leave without seeing her. He would miss his Midgardian comrades, as well; it had been a difficult and hostile beginning but he now felt almost as close to them as he did Sif and the Warriors Three. It was strange, he pondered; he had known them mere moments compared to his Asgardian compatriots, yet they had bonded so strongly. He would take up friend Tony's offer at some point, of that he was certain.

Clint wanted to stay, but he knew he had to use his short leave from SHIELD wisely. He had a family which none of them knew about, save Natasha of course. He got to spend so little time with them so he had to go back. He missed them so much, and they would be worried after all the news coverage. He'd be back, though - he really enjoyed the time as a team and Stark's company, despite the way he knew they were going to wind each other up. He especially loved all the luxuries of the Tower. He had every intention of making Stark regret that offer!

Natasha knew Clint would be going home, Thor of course was too, Bruce was unlikely to stay so the whole team thing Tony had offered wasn't really going to happen - at least not yet. She would have loved to have stayed, but at this rate it would be just her, Steve, and Tony. Not really a great combination. Steve and Tony would drive each other insane and she would end up moderating. Then Stark didn't really trust her anyway and she didn't like the fact she'd found out she couldn't read him as well as she thought. It freaked her out a little, if truth be told. None of them really knew who he was. It would have been nice to have spent some time with Pepper; they'd gotten along well when she'd worked for Stark, and seeing as she'd been surrounded by men for so long it would have been nice to have some girl time. Still, it just wasn't to be. She'd be the first one back, though, if the others decided to take up the offer.

The 8 hours flew by in the lab before Jarvis notified Tony that it was approaching midday. The Avengers had gathered in the kitchen ready to see off Loki and Thor, and to say their goodbyes before the departures started. There was a quiet bustle of chatter before Natasha decided to start the ball rolling.

"I'm sorry to break up the party, guys but I won't be staying. Places to go, people to see… you get the picture."

"Yeah, sorry, it's the same for me. Working for SHIELD sucks." Clint shrugged his shoulders and joined Natasha at her side of the table.

Steve suddenly didn't feel so bad about his announcement. "I'm sorry Tony, and thank you for your offer, but there's quite a lot of catching up I need to do if I'm going to get myself back in the world."

"That's cool guys, no problem." Tony held up his hands and waved it off. He was disappointed, but it was as expected. "Just an offer, not an obligation. And it still stands if you ever need a B&B."

"Thank you, Tony, though I think you're underrating your accommodations if you're dubbing the Tower a B&B," Steve smiled.

"I'll update the info on TripAdvisor. I'm expecting good reviews from you guys."

"Yeah well, 5 stars for the building - just rude staff, really." Clint grinned.

"Well then, you're barred."

"You can't bar me, this isn't a bar."

"Well seeing as I own the building, I think I can do pretty much what I want." Tony grinned back, there was certainly no hard feelings. He was going to miss having someone to go head to head with.  
And Clint was thinking the same thing.

"What about you, Bruce? Can I interest you in first class tickets to the Bermuda triangle or wherever you fancy this time? Strictly top secret, of course."

"No, actually. I think I'll stay - if that's ok."

The room was taken aback. No one had expected that. Natasha was especially taken aback. Why was everyone being so damn unpredictable and making her question her abilities? Maybe she should retire.

"Of course it's ok, it will be nice to have a science bro in the house."

"As long as you're not expecting me to keep up with you, that's fine." Bruce and Tony grinned at each other. Tony already had so many plans to set up the lab for Bruce. Maybe a Hulk-proof room wouldn't be such a bad idea, either. It would make him feel safer in the city. What should he call it?

Steve broke his trail of thought. "Ok, let's get moving. Wouldn't want to keep Loki waiting, he might do something stupid."

"What, like escape and start the next invasion?" Clint moaned.

"Quite possibly, so let's get him shown off the premises, pronto." Tony rubbed his hands together and led the way to the elevator.

The final goodbyes were silent, and afterwards everyone went their separate ways. Even Rhodey's visit had been fleeting and Pepper of course had plenty to do with Tony's new role as Avenger playing havoc on the company's stocks.

Tony would have felt abandoned if Bruce wasn't sat in the car beside him. He was really looking forward to having someone who he could talk with on the same level, he hadn't had that… well, ever. He doubted Bruce would stay long, but the fact he had decided to stay at all was a gift. He would do everything to make sure Bruce had exactly what he needed, to make him feel safe and welcome so that maybe he would decide to stay a bit longer than the 2 weeks he estimated that Bruce had planned.

Tony couldn't describe his relief that Bruce as stayed, not just because he was lonely but because he needed help. This thing inside him - whatever he'd brought back from space - had nearly attached itself to all his cells. He hadn't really noticed any physical effects yet, but when it finished? Who knew what could happen.

He was terrified. It was very rare that Tony came across something he didn't understand. Even though biology wasn't strictly his field, he was Tony Stark, and science was science. He was praying that Bruce could help him with this, because if Bruce couldn't he didn't know who could. Maybe it would all be fine, but he highly doubted that. If there was one thing he knew, it was that nothing in his life was that easy.

….

"Tony, seriously. One lab is enough."

"It's fine, Bruce! I can spare the whole floor, give you plenty of space, peace and quiet. They are yours to do whatever you want with." In truth, Tony really _couldn't_ spare all that space, but he wanted Bruce to have everything he needed. Tony could always take up the R &D workload if they couldn't with one floor less. It would take him a quarter of the time to do than R&D anyway.

"Tony, I really appreciate it, but your labs are huge, I wouldn't know what to do with the space in one yet alone four." Bruce was thrilled to have some space to get on with his research. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had the time or equipment to do some serious work. Tony's labs were just incredible, and he appreciated how much effort Tony was going to to make him feel at home.

"Well, you know, they're there if you want them."

"Thank you."

"I also set you up with full security clearance. Jarvis will give you anything you want, and if you need an extra pair of hands, just come find me in the shop or get Jarvis to call me."

"So, I'm allowed in the workshop." Bruce was still staring around in awe at the labs that Tony was showing him. Seeing all this equipment was giving him more and more ideas for projects and research he could do. Maybe he would need up needing the whole floor after all.

"Yep, no problem, just didn't want the others down there breaking stuff they didn't understand."  
Bruce nodded, but knew it was more than that. He felt pretty blessed - he reckoned that workshop was a big deal to Tony, his sanctuary almost. That was a big sign of trust.

They finished the tour and crashed on the sofa for a few minutes.

"Hungry?" Tony was playing the ever-attentive host and Bruce was just a little worried he was over-tiring himself.

"No, I'm good thanks." In reality, he was quite hungry, but he would grab himself something when Tony was busy.

"You can have anything you want from wherever you want - just ask Jarvis, or order it online. It'll charge to my account. You can use the room down the hall you used last night for now, but I'm having the lower floors re-modelled and extending the penthouse so you can a floor to yourself when that's finished."

"Jeez Tony, you don't have to do all that."

"It's fine, seriously, the others will have a floor each if they ever want it. I'm putting in some training rooms, game rooms... whatever you all want, really. I'll even make you a green room, if you want," Tony added hesitantly. He wasn't insinuating that Bruce wasn't in control, but he knew the man liked to take precautions - hence why he'd lived in the middle of nowhere all his life.

"A green room?" Bruce chuckled as realized what he meant. "I like that. It's a good idea."

"You do? Ok, I'll get right on it."

"For God's sake Tony, take it easy! You don't have to do everything straight away. Let your body have a bit of time to heal."

"It's fine, I'll get someone else to build it." Bruce put his head in his hands; that's not quite what he'd meant. Tony continued, oblivious. "I need to do some armor repairs and get the suit back in action, so I'll draw up a few designs while I'm at it."

Tony got up and made his way down to the lab, still muttering some ideas and technical specs to himself as he went. "Call me if you need anything," he shouted back as he disappeared into the elevator.

Bruce lay his head back in the chair and relaxed. For once he had a really good feeling about this. It wasn't long before his own work and ideas crept into his mind, so he retraced his steps back to the labs.

 **Now things are about to get going…. Prepare yourselves, it's all downhill from here for our dear billionaire.**


	8. Chapter 8- Just a consultant

**This chapter has a small reference (Erica) to my story the previous story in the series… the Dying flames. My stories will never demand you read another to understand it. All will be explained in due course.**

Previously _:_ _The d_ _eath of a prisoner in Asgard has released the most dangerous being in the_ _un_ _iverse, and Tony is increasingly worried about the strange, inexplicable energy signature attaching itself to his cells._

 _Tony's ribs are a mess from the battle and CPR after his secondary drowning episode at the SHIELD debrief._

 _Having stayed at the tower to bond and recover from the battle_ _,_ _the Avengers saw off Thor and Loki as they travelled back to Asgard and went their separate ways._

 _After trying to face his fear of water_ _,_ _Tony suffers from secondary drowning at the SHIELD debrief and is stabili_ _z_ _ed by Bruce and the medics._

 _Confronted by Rhodey, Tony opens up and admits he was waterboarded by the_ _T_ _en_ _R_ _ings._

 **Chapter 8- Just a Consultant**

When Pepper got back to the penthouse, she found it eerily quiet. Yes, she knew the other Avengers had left, but Tony and Bruce were still here and the place looked completely untouched.

"Jarvis, where is everyone?"

"Mr. Stark is currently in his workshop and has been for the past 4 hours. Dr. Banner has been in his lab on the floor above for a similar length of time."

" _His_ lab?"

"Yes, Miss Potts, Mr. Stark has dedicated sector 3 of the Research and development to Dr. Banner for his personal research."

 _Ok_ , Pepper thought. _Great_. She was now alone in a house of scientists. It was a good thing she was a CEO. Otherwise she would be spending a hell of a lot of time alone.

"So what else has Tony been up to, then?" Pepper knew all too well that when Tony started something, he ended up with five or six projects going at once.

"He has ordered the extension of the penthouse suite by re-modelling sectors 4 through 9 to accommodate the Avengers and their needs."

"Oh, is _that_ all!"

"He has also ordered the replacement glass for the balcony windows on this floor and a replacement for the Stark sign, with the intention that the Tower will now be known as the Avengers Tower."

"Right." Pepper didn't know what to make of all that.

She threw her shoes and handbag onto the sofa then made her way down to Tony's workshop.

Tony was up to his eyeballs in paper, metal, and tools, currently pulling apart the boot of one of his suits and attempting to get Butterfingers to hold still while he was soldering.

"Hi Pep!" Her arrival was announced by the fact that ACDC was cut short mid-sentence, and the workshop noise was reduced dramatically.

"Avengers Tower?"

"Yep." Tony looked up for a moment and then swore as nearly sliced open his finger.

"Why?"

"Why not?"

Pepper sighed. She was clearly not going to get a lot out of Tony while his mind was on other things.

"I thought you told me that the next one would say "Potts" on the tower."

"Yeah, it will, but this isn't the next one. Technically it's still the same building - just getting a remodel."

Pepper examined the chaos of the workshop. She'd been right in suspecting Tony had got several projects running at once. There was a gleaming set of silver armor in the corner, not yet painted but otherwise complete.

"Is that a new suit?"

"Yep. It was quicker to make that than fix this, but it's not functional yet." He threw a piece of the Mark VIII across the room, clearly having decided it wasn't worth saving. "Get a new one of those made up, J."

"Certainly, sir."

"Can't you have a break, Tony? Only yesterday you nearly died, and the day before, for that matter. Surely fixing your suits can wait."

"Honestly Pep, I'll be up soon. I need to test a few things out on the new model…"

"Tony, it can wait."

"I need at least one fully functioning suit, Pep. Just in case some other nutjob decides to try take over the world tonight."

Pepper desisted - Tony did have a point. Being Iron Man was a big responsibility and he needed to be prepared at all times. It was exhausting, especially at a time like this, but she supposed it had to be done.

"Just please don't overdo it, Tony."

"Okay."

Tony had intended to come up soon, but he'd had a message from Fury that had turned everything on its head.

"As a consultant to the Avenger's initiative," was how the message had begun Consultant! Was that really still all he was?

Well,he supposed that was fair; the others were the special ones. He was - how had Steve put it? Just a man in a suit. He'd thought that flying through a wormhole with a nuke would have been enough to get him promoted from consultant to full blown Avenger, but clearly not in Fury's eyes. Perhaps that was his role; he wasn't as important as the others, he was disposable, part of the team because Fury knew that if the time came he would be the one to make "the sacrifice play".

That part annoyed him; not that they felt he was worth less than the others ( _that_ was true) but because he would willingly do that. All they had to do was ask - but no, they were just happy using him whilst thinking that he wasn't smart enough to see it.

As if that wasn't enough, they wanted him to review all the SHIELD tech and weapons directly linked to the Avengers, along with their computer systems. They'd probably want him to mop the floors too, at this rate! He already had so much to do with his armor upgrades, Stark Phone upgrades, all the other Stark Tech, the extra work from R&D… and meanwhile, he was still trying to find out what this damn thing inside of him was.

Well, he supposed he'd had heavier work periods in the past and he was determined not to let anyone down. But today, he was really, really tired. He'd do another half hour then call it a day.

Tony got up and walked to the coffee machine. Caffeine had always been his savior, but today he didn't get to take a sip; he'd sat on the couch to pause for a moment, but before he knew what was happening his body betrayed him and he fell fast asleep.

…

Bruce was on cloud nine. He'd been so busy and enjoying his work that the hours had flown by. Yet now, he couldn't really avoid the fact that his mind was getting sluggish and even a constant stream of coffee couldn't stop the regular yawns that were his body's reminder that humans require something called sleep. He stifled another yawn and made his way back to the penthouse.

He found Pepper fast asleep on the couch, propped on several pillows with the TV still on quietly in the background. He turned it off and took a blanket off the back of the chair, covering her lightly. He imagined there had been many nights where Pepper had waited up for Tony in vain and supposed that before he turned in for the night he should at least try and persuade the stubborn man to follow suit.

He was pleased to find out that he didn't need to. Tony was flat out on his own couch in the workshop and looked surprisingly comfy despite lying on his side. Bruce winced at the thought of how much his ribs must be hurting. That was probably why he was working so hard - to make himself tired enough to sleep, despite the pain.

Bruce had his reservations about leaving Tony there. It would be much better for him to sleep in a real bed, but he doubted that he would get back to sleep if he woke him now. He was pale; not too much so, but on someone who was already fair skinned it made it look worse than it was. Bruce watched his breathing and was pleased to see it less shallow than it had been the past few days. It was odd, of course, to be seeing an improvement so soon, but maybe it was because Tony had sensibly given in to taking painkillers.

He rummaged quietly around the workshop and found a blanket to cover his friend in much the same way he had just done for Pepper, then manually lowered the bright lights at the control panel as he left the room and headed to bed himself.

…..

Pepper woke up suddenly. It was unlike her to have bad dreams. It hadn't been a horrific nightmare, but it was enough to leave her unsettled. She snuggled up to the blanket as she sat upright on the couch. Hang on. Blanket?

She smiled. The blanket fairy had come - now did that mean Tony, or Bruce? She walked to the bedroom, but Tony wasn't there. That meant he was still down in the lab and it was the small hours of the morning. She sighed. Why couldn't he just come to bed for once? He was injured and tired, so he needed rest now more than ever. She was tired too, but almost by obligation she made the long trip down to the workshop to drag Tony back up to bed whether he liked it or not. She arrived quite annoyed and ready to overwrite Jarvis to lock Tony out for a week, when she smiled at what she saw. The blanket fairy had visited the workshop as well and Tony was sleeping peacefully. She made a mental note to thank Bruce tomorrow and made her own way back to bed.

…

 _He was back there, in that terrible waste land of out of space, staring deep into the blue of the wormhole. He couldn't breathe, he was submerged in a tank of freezing water with no way up for air. The Chitauri were advancing on the earth, the bomb hadn't done its work. All he could do was watch as his friends were mown down and slain. Then there was Yinsen's face. "You failed me, Stark. You failed them all."_

 _Tony woke up gasping at the side of the highway. It was a peaceful night. He relaxed, sinking down with his back against the tree he had woken up beside. There was a car coming. He could just make out its headlights in the distance. How had he got here? It didn't really matter, he'd flag down the car and figure out where he was. But there was already someone, stood in silhouette at the other side of the road._

" _Hey." The figure didn't move. "Hey, buddy! Can you tell me where I am? Must have been one hell of a party last night because I don't remember a thing!" The figure stepped forward and was illuminated by the car's headlights as it proceeded closer. It was Howard - but how? He was dead. Something grabbed him from behind and forced him down. Obadiah? The man who had once been his friend reached into his chest and tugged out the arc reactor._

 _Tony reeled in panic and gasped for air. The branches of the tree wrapped around him, digging into his flesh and preventing him from moving. The car got closer and with a sick feeling he recognized the driver. Erica, please no. Howard stepped forward into the road and the car flipped as if on his command, bursting into flames. Tony tried, he fought and flailed against his restraints, but once again he couldn't reach her. Once again, he had to listen to her screams as she slowly burnt to death._

Tony awoke to screams. It was dark and something heavy lay on top of him. There was an explosion, the loud shattering of glass very close by. He jumped to his feet but something tugged at them holding his legs together as he tumbled towards the ground. He hit the concrete hard and the lights flickered on.

He was in his workshop. The scream had been his own and the thing tied around his feet was nothing worse than a blanket.

Tony imagined he looked a mess - he was dripping through with sweat and trembling on his hands and knees on the workshop floor. As far as dreams went, he'd had some pretty bad ones but that… that was just evil.

He hadn't thought of the day Erica died for a long, long time. He'd felt guilty about his feelings for Pepper for so long before he finally gave in and they got together. After so long, it had been time to move on - he deserved to be happy, surely, after everything he'd been through. There was obviously some twisted part of his mind that disagreed enough for him to have had that dream. But that's all it had been - a dream - and now it was over. It was about time he got up and stopped acting like a terrified child.

…

Jarvis had been monitoring Tony's heart rate and breathing. He'd been monitoring him nonstop since the battle because he had to. In fact, the brief period where he hadn't been able to was when something bad had happened and that had landed his creator in SHIELD medical and could have killed him. It was his job to look after Tony Stark, and Jarvis took that responsibility very seriously.

So, when his sensors picked up Tony's elevated heart rate and breathing rate he had wanted so much to wake him from the nightmare. He knew his creator was suffering, yet he'd equally hoped it would pass so that he may get some well needed rest. Unfortunately, the latter hadn't come to pass. What happened next had shocked Jarvis, if a computer could be shocked. The unknown energy had been building in Stark from the moment before his dream began and when he'd woken up, terrified, it reached a crescendo. Jarvis had immediately turned on the lights, to try and minimize the fear and confusion his creator faced. It had served little purpose. It took several minutes for Tony Stark to regain his feet and see what he had done.

….

There was glass everywhere. Tony remembered having heard something shatter, but he'd been half the way across the room - and as far as he knew glass didn't shatter spontaneously. The entire wall of panels that marked the entrance to his workshop was gone, strewn all over the floor in pieces as fine as sand. He gulped down dread and rubbed his sides for comfort. This wasn't good. And then it hit him. The pain. Where was the pain? He had seven fractured ribs, he'd just landed hard on the floor and all he could feel was a dull ache.

He walked nervously over to the mirror, praying that the real nightmare was still playing out and he'd yet to wake up. Or that he'd lift his shirt and see the horrendous bruising was still there, and that either adrenaline was responsible for the lack of pain or Bruce had secretly drugged him up again. He wasn't lucky on either front.

In the mirror, Tony saw the impossible. It had been only a few days, yet most of the bruising on his chest was gone. It hadn't completely vanished - there were still spots of purple, but now they were mostly brown or green, fading into yellow. He tapped his ribs sharply one at a time. It still hurt, but not enough to warrant more than a grimace and the hollow knock they gave told him they had nearly healed.

"Jarvis show me the data."

His A.I. obliged, putting up the readings of the energy signature for the past 3 hours. So, whatever this was healing him now - that wasn't so bad, but smashing glass wasn't so good. _It wasn't a disaster either, though,_ he mused.

"We keep this to ourselves for now, Jarvis."

"As you wish, Sir."

"I want all your resources looking into this problem." Tony ignored the hint of concern from Jarvis.

"Of course."

Tony was skimming through the readings, analyzing them in detail in the blink of an eye. The energy signature, this semi-living thing inside him, had been placid until now. It had not yet completely spread through his body, but it was getting dangerously close to doing so. There had been no active sign of it until now - and the healing capabilities he certainly wasn't complaining about - but smashing glass… how had that happened? His mind? That was more than a little scary.

"Maybe it's just when I get scared. Maybe I can control it," Tony thought out loud.

"It certainly did seem to be connected to your dream, sir. However, may I point out something you may have overlooked?"

"Go ahead, J."

"Well, the energy levels in you started rising before I detected a rise in your breathing and heart rate, which would suggest that it happened before you started dreaming."

"So, what you're saying is, the energy caused my dream."

"It would appear so, sir."

"Shit." Tony clenched his teeth. Why did he get the feeling that this thing was toying with him? Here he was, thinking that maybe he could learn to control it and keep it under wraps - but instead, it looked like it was the one controlling him.

Tony looked at the clock and rubbed his head, mentally making a note of everything he had to do before 9am. The list was extensive, mainly consisting of Fury's new demands, but he desperately needed to keep working on this.

"Buckle down, Jarvis. Looks like we are pulling an all-nighter."

…...

Bruce hadn't seen much of Tony for the past week. To be fair, Bruce had been equally busy, and for once the genius seemed to be taking it easy. He'd been popping up for air regularly and they'd had brief conversations in the kitchen. Tony had definitely been eating well. It was a good sign that he had an appetite; with how much healing his body had to do he would be needing that energy. He even seemed to be going to bed every night which was more than comforting.

Towards the end of the week, Bruce had enlisted Tony's help on one of his projects. It had been fantastic having someone to work with, and the pair had richly enjoyed each other's company. The way which Tony had cut through the problems, pointing out the things that, once discovered, seemed obvious but Bruce just hadn't been able to see… This work was nowhere near Tony's specialty, but with a guy like Tony everything seemed to be his specialty, especially after a few hours of reading up.

Tony was glad Bruce hadn't noticed his deception. In reality, he'd been living in the workshop, working flat out. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept in his bed, even if he did go there every night just to convince to Bruce that he was sleeping. Pepper was away, business meetings taking her all over the place, so there was one less person standing between Tony and his work. He had so much to do. Every time he finished a project another one popped up, and if by some miracle he had a few hours spare he was scouring the data for some clue on what this energy was, how he ended up with it, and how the hell he could get it out of him.

Tony was exhausted, and it was more than just his work and lack of sleep. His body was drained all the time, like he'd just run a marathon. He was constantly starving, and no matter how much he ate he couldn't seem to satisfy his hunger. Caffeine was having no effect, either; he just seemed to be burning everything off faster than he could get it down. For the first time since he'd realized palladium was poisoning him, he had no answers, no clue what to do, and was getting too tired to bother doing anything about it. But this one was bigger than just his life. He had a feeling there was a lot more at stake if he didn't solve it. There hadn't been anymore incidents like the smashed glass, but then again he'd barely slept since… and the calm always came before the storm.

…...


	9. Chapter 9- Houston we have a problem

Previously _:_

 _Having stayed at the tower to bond and recover from the battle, the Avengers_ _see_ _off Thor and Loki as they travel back to Asgard and_ _go_ _their separate ways._

 _Tony is increasingly worried about the strange, inexplicable energy signature attaching itself to his cells._

 _With all the Avengers but Bruce gone_ _,_ _Tony's world is descending into hell. Plagued by an intense nightmare, Tony awakes to find that not only has the energy inside him smashed all the glass in his workshop, but his ribs are healing at an inhuman rate._

 **Chapter 9- Houston we have a problem.**

Thor just stood in silence and watched as Loki was taken away by the guards. It saddened him greatly that the brother he once knew so well had become like a stranger, so bitter and so angry with the world. He caught his mother's eye as they waited outside the Great Hall. They were full of the sadness that Thor felt deep within his bones. The sting of betrayal was a harsh one, especially when caused by someone that you couldn't help but love, not matter what they did.

Thor longed for some time alone, but as soon as Loki had been sentenced, Odin demanded his presence.

Thor would not have been so concerned about his father's demand had it not been for the deeply troubled expression on his face. It was almost impossible not to notice the extra bustle about the city when he had returned with Loki. Many more guards than normal were armored ready for battle - that had been expected with the return of Loki. But now, Thor wondered, why so many when Loki was defeated?

"What is it, Father? What troubles you?"

"While you were on Midgard, did you see my messengers? Huginn and Muninn?"

Thor paused in realization. "Not while I was awake."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means, Father, that I dreamt of them several times after the battle but did not once see them while I was awake. Why? Did you send them? Have I missed a message?"

"Yes, my son, I did. This is troubling indeed, but confirms my suspicions."

"Father, please. I do not understand."

"I will explain later." He dismissed his son with the wave of his hand and turned to the guard posted beside him. Thor was just able to hear the rest of what was said before he fell out of earshot. "Tell them to focus their search on Midgard. I want it found _now_."

Wanted what found? What were they searching for on Earth? Thor turned back. If whatever this was concerned Earth, it concerned him.

"I'm sorry Father, but if this concerns Midgard I must know."

Odin let out a deep sigh. "Very well. Leave us," he commanded to the remaining stragglers in the room. Slowly, it emptied by Odin's command and Thor waited expectantly for his answer.

…

"Sir, I'm afraid that for the device to work you would have to remove the obstruction, and that would involve cutting the…"

"But that would break it anyway Jarvis, and I'm _trying_ to fix it." Tony had now been in the workshop for going on five days, despite the short breaks he'd had to keep Bruce off his back.

"Yes, sir, I am aware. But what I am trying to say is that the only solution is to replace the part."

"But that would take months - can't I just rip it out?" Tony didn't wait for his AI's response and just started tugging at the lump of metal.

"Sir, to synthesize the part required would only take 3 days and I have calculated the force required to 'rip out' said obstruction to be over 2940 Newtons, so unless you intend on asking Captain Rogers or Thor to assist I suggest you stop your attempts before you hurt yourself."

"Nah, nah. I got this. It's coming free." Tony's face was starting to turn purple with the effort.

"I believe you are mistaken…"

"Got it!" Tony looked up at the ceiling triumphantly. "See? Easy, Jarvis!" Tony continued tinkering and started to fix the damage that the offending lump of metal had caused to his armor as his AI fell silent for a moment.

"But, sir. According to my calculations, that should be impossible."

"Well, you must have got it wrong. Happens to the best of us, J," Tony said flippantly. Yes, it had taken some effort, but it was by no means was that an impossible amount of force. He'd probably not taken into account the differing material strengths pulling at a certain angle would involve.

"With respect sir, I have not."

"Well you must have, Jarvis, because there's no way I just lifted 300kg with one arm."

"Sir, could you please draw your attention to the screen to your right?"

Tony dropped the offending metal chunk in shock when he saw the readings.

"What the…" That couldn't be right. He couldn't have applied that much force - it was inhuman!

"Jarvis, how?" Tony very well knew how but couldn't help asking.

"Well, sir, the unknown energy signature inside you reached a new peak level at the moment you removed the obstruction, so I can only assume…"

"What the fuck _is_ this thing, Jarvis? I want it out of me. Now."

"I cannot come up with anything, sir. It appears biological, so perhaps if you were to seek some other expert advice."

"You want me to tell Banner?"

"Well, perhaps not tell him exactly, sir. Present it to him as a reading you obtained while through the wormhole… Sir, are you alright?"

Tony was on his knees. He wasn't quite sure how, or why. A wave of sickness had thrown itself over him and his head felt detached from his body. His chest tightened up, he couldn't breathe. The sound of his AI's questions were faint and misty. Everything seemed far away. He was being sucked out of the workshop to somewhere dark and cold. He wanted to stand, but his legs were like jelly. The air was being sucked away. What the hell was happening? Panic rose in his chest, his heartbeat pounded inside his skull, and suddenly he couldn't breathe at all. _Just calm down,_ he thought, but telling himself that made everything worse. The overwhelming feeling of panic made him want to cry out, but his body refused him anything.

"Sir, it appears you are having a panic attack."

"Jarvis! Just- shut up! I need a minute," Tony gasped out between his manic breaths. He hadn't really heard what Jarvis had said, but suddenly every noise was loud and grating. He just wanted quiet. He tried to concentrate on breathing, on calming down. He was in the workshop, everything was fine. He could feel the panic slowly beginning to subside, but it was painfully slow.

"Sir, I'm calling Dr. Banner."

"NO!" Tony roared. Panic flooded back into his mind. Nobody could find him like this. He couldn't let Jarvis make that call.

Everything went black.

…..

"You remember the tales we told you as a child. Tales of the CAEB."

Thor's blood ran cold at Odin's words. "Father, you surely can't mean that this is more than legend?"

"I'm afraid that is exactly the case. We have had it locked up here since before you were born, deep below the dungeons; a place from which there is no escape."

"How have you concealed a being that we were told had the power to corrupt the greatest of creatures and destroy galaxies with a flick of its hand?" Thor demanded incredulously. He wanted so badly for his father's words to ring false.

"The details are long winded. All that you need to know is that it - or the creature that it has inhabited for these millennia - killed itself while you were on Midgard."

Thor paused in relief, but when he saw the opposite reaction on his father's face he wondered what he had missed. "But Father, is this not good news?"

"Completely the opposite," Odin confirmed. "While we kept that creature trapped here, the CAEB had no power. We kept it too weak even to stand. But in the death of the host, the CAEB is freed and can inhabit another being. And it will wreak havoc."

Dawning realization made Thor's blood run cold. "So you believe it has inhabited someone on Midgard."

"Yes. The cruelest part of the CAEB's nature is that it inhabits the body of a being who has shown a great sacrifice at the moment of its liberation. The recent events on Midgard, thanks to Loki, would have provided such circumstances."

"Yes, but many planets are raging wars, father. There are many who give such sacrifice - why do you believe it has come to Midgard?."

"Yes, but not wars of such nature, where Midgard's forces were so out-matched. Such wars give rise to great heroes, those who fight knowing they will surely die and in vain as they are so outmatched. And then there is the fact that Huginn and Muninn were unable to reach you. They informed me that they could not get close to you and that even when you gazed directly upon them you did not see. Only the CAEB is capable of such things."

"That is vexing indeed." Thor rubbed his face in dread, with the bifrost gone dealing with any situation was going to be difficult, let alone one as serious as this. "Will you allow me to return to Earth? My friends may be able to help with the search."

"That will not be necessary. The CAEB is pure evil and infinitely dangerous, especially in the hands of a mortal. I will deal with this. I am informing you out of courtesy, nothing more."

Thor resisted the urge to fight back. He knew from experience it only made his Father more closed and stubborn. He bowed his head and left the room. He would have to find another way to gain the answers he sought.

….

Tony opened his eyes groggily. Well, he assumed he'd just opened his eyes, but he still couldn't see anything. Was he blind? No, it was dark, he could just about make out the shape of his desk shift as he sat himself upright.

"Jarvis?" He was met with silence.

"Jarvis what is going on?"

His friendly AI still failed to respond and that was more than worrying. Jarvis was always there. Where was he? Everything in the workshop was dead, the computer screens were blank, and in fact they looked fried. What the hell had just happened? There was a small electric hum and the emergency lighting began to flicker to life.

"Switching to emergency power."

"Ah Jarvis, thank God! What the hell just happened?"

"If you would give me a moment to reboot and process the data, Sir, that would be appreciated."

That was weird. Since when did Jarvis need _time_?

There was the sound of footsteps on the stairs as Bruce walked into the workshop - not bothering with the door, considering the glass was already broken.

"Tony, what's going on? Jarvis started to call me down here then the whole tower went black."

"What, really? The whole tower?"

"Yeah, I think so. My lab just suddenly went dark and it was the same all the way down here. The elevators weren't working either - I had to take the stairs."

"Well shit. I thought I'd just shorted something in the lab." Tony had left a lot running that shouldn't have been unattended while he was on the floor panicking, but he couldn't think of anything that could have blown out the whole tower and Jarvis as well.

"Do you know what caused it?" Bruce was looking at Tony expectantly.

"No, not yet. I was working on a few things, Jarvis is just rebooting then I'll have a better idea."

Tony's phone started buzzing on the desk and he snatched it up quickly when he saw Pepper's caller ID.

"Hi Pep."

"Tony, what the hell have you done?! I'm in the middle of a meeting!"

"Why do you assume it my fault?"

"Well, was it?"

"Yes, but that's beside the point…"

"What could you possibly be doing down there that has caused the entire tower to black out?! It's hard enough doing this job when I _can_ see."

"Ok, ok, I'm fixing it, Pep. Did the emergency power kick in?"

"Yes, but…"

"Then what's the problem? You have power, you can carry on with your dull meeting. then I'll have it fixed by the time you're finished."

He hung up sharply. Tony knew he was unnecessarily irate with Pepper, but he didn't need people badgering him right now - he needed to remain objective. He had a really bad feeling he couldn't shake, an anger building up inside. He knew that if the tower had been targeted this could be an attack, and he needed to be ready.

His phone immediately started buzzing again with an unknown caller ID. He had a strong urge to smash that phone, but right now he wanted answers.

"Hello?" Tony answered angrily.

"Stark, why am I getting reports that the power is down for half of New York?" Tony rubbed his temples. Great, now Fury was on his back.

"Yep, sorry, my fault. I'm fixing it." He just hung up. He couldn't be bothered with it.

His phone started buzzing again - Fury clearly wasn't satisfied. He picked it up and threw it at the wall, giving a satisfied sigh when it smashed to pieces and stopped ringing.

Bruce was giving Tony a quizzical look, having only picked up Tony's half of the conversations.

"Well, looks like I've taken down the power in half of New York."

Bruce nodded calmly, not really knowing what to say to Tony's building anger.

"Jarvis, you any further forward?"

"Yes, sir. I have traced the problem, but considering all the electronics in this room have been damaged irreparably I would suggest you go to the upstairs labs to view the data."

Tony started moving. This was just what he needed, with everything else that was going on.

"Do you need any help?" Bruce was feeling pretty useless and was desperate to do something.

"Not till I've figured out what the problem is, but I'll give you a shout." Tony was already halfway up the stairs. "You can check the coffee machine is working, God knows I can't get any work done if that's not functioning."

…

"Jarvis, why do I get the feeling that we've got a serious problem?"

"I really wouldn't know, sir."

"Thanks for that." Sarcasm really didn't suit Jarvis, Tony thought. He could barely believe all that happened in the past week. Since he'd come back it had all been change - not all of it bad - but right now he was just praying that he'd wake up and it had all been a dream. "You know what, this could be a good thing! Super strength, fast healing... what's not to like?"

"I would agree with you, sir, if it wasn't for the fact that you've taken out the power across half of New York and broken numerous other things."

"Maybe I can control it." He'd said it before, he was saying it now more to try and convince himself than anything. Unfortunately, Jarvis was too practical to be a comfort.

"That is highly unlikely. In fact, the way in which it has spread through your body makes it appear to me that it may be controlling _you_." Tony put his head in his hands. His AI was right, but what the hell could he do about it? He hated not understanding things and this in particular was just frightening. At first it had just been a shower door - some shattered glass - but the power of whatever was inside him was growing fast and if it grew any more... who knew what it could do?

"Sir, I really must advise we get help on this. You have tripled your calorie intake over the past week yet have still experienced dramatic weight loss. Your body cannot cope with the strain of sustaining both you and this energy source."

Tony nodded. "But who do we tell, Jarvis? SHIELD? A lot of good they are going to be."

"As I suggested earlier, perhaps we should run it past Dr. Banner. We could show him the energy signature and the way it interacts with cells."

"What, you mean _my_ cells?"

"I would suggest that we do not tell him everything at this point. Perhaps we can inform him that it was residue on your suit that you picked up when you were through …."

"Ok Jarvis, you're repeating yourself, I can remember what happened before I blacked out." Tony's mind and heart were racing. This really sucked, but he'd solved the impossible before with a little help so maybe he would manage it again.

"Jarvis…" Tony started hesitantly. "How long do I have before my body can't cope?"

Even Jarvis paused before answering and Tony knew it wasn't because he was running calculations. "Between eight and ten days, sir."

Tony sighed - like him, his AI was almost never wrong. "And what happens then?"

"I have no idea."

….

Tony sat on the couch and twiddled his thumbs. The TV was on in the background but he hadn't been watching it; instead, he was deep in thought.

Pepper left her meeting ready to run down to the lab and give Tony an earful, but as she thought about it she realized that he had sounded stressed on the phone. She also knew that he'd have been working hard to fix the problem, so in the end she decided it was best to leave it. The last thing she had expected to see when the elevator reached the penthouse was Tony, sitting on the sofa and staring at the ceiling.

"I thought you'd be in the shop. Apparently, you took out half the power in New York."

"Well I fried everything in the shop, it needs replacing and that's going to take a few hours."

"Oh, so your own lab has finally kicked you out?"

"Seems like it."

Oh dear, Pepper thought. It seemed that the tower had acquired a bored Tony Stark and that was never a good thing.

"Are you Ok, Tony? You look…" Pepper paused. He _looked_ fine. But, she just had a feeling that there was something wrong with him. She didn't know why, there certainly weren't any physical symptoms but she just couldn't shake the feeling.

"I'm fine."

"I'm taking it, by your lack of activity, that the problem's been solved?"

"Yeah, power's back up. Jarvis sorted it."

"Why don't you go help Bruce, and I'll cook some lunch?" Tony visibly perked up at the mention of food. Pepper was pleased - she imagined that Tony hadn't been eating properly since she'd been busy. He rarely did and he was still recovering (whether he liked to admit it or not).

Tony couldn't deny that he was hungry. His insides had been screaming at him for days, and no matter how much he ate he couldn't get the hunger pains to leave him. Pepper's cooking was always great. But as for going up to help Bruce… well, he'd been avoiding that for obvious reasons.

Pepper had asked how he was. She had been the first to do so, despite everything that had been happening, and he couldn't help wondering how no one else had noticed. When he looked in the mirror, he was gray - deathly gray - and his clothes were starting to hang off him where 10 pounds of weight should have been. He was hardly a stick, but weight loss this rapid could never be healthy and another week or so of this and he would be looking like a walking skeleton.

Whatever was inside him must be hiding itself from the world, and consequently the effect it was having on Tony's body. Nobody had really asked him how he was because to them he looked perfectly alright.

"Bruce will call if he needs me." Tony needed some more time to think, and in all honesty now he was sitting down the thought of how much effort it was going to take to get back to his feet made him feel shaky and weak.

"Ok, I'll give him an ETA on dinner then." Pepper knew that Tony needed to be distracted, and Bruce being Bruce would only ask Tony for help if he really, really had to - especially if he thought that Tony was busy.

Bruce looked up from his pile of papers as Pepper entered the room.

"I'm guessing that Tony's fixed his little mishap, then."

"Yes, it appears so. I'm just coming up to ask a favor."

"Sure, anything." Bruce smiled.

"Well, Tony's workshop is out of action until his equipment is replaced and he's… well, he's bored. I was wondering if you could call him up to help or something."

Bruce chuckled, "Yeah, sure. No problem."

"Thank you, Bruce. You haven't met a bored Tony Stark yet and it's not something I'd advise putting on your bucket list."

"I can only imagine."

"Ok, I'm making lunch. It should be about an hour so don't get into something too involved."

…..

Tony had been in the lab with Bruce for twenty minutes. He knew a set up when he saw it. Bruce had asked for help but he didn't really need it. Even so, he didn't begrudge it. It was nice to keep busy and he was enjoying the company. Tony knew he couldn't put it off any longer; he needed Bruce's help.

"Actually, Bruce, I had something I wanted to run by you. Jarvis, can you get up the thing we found?"

"Certainly, sir."

Bruce stared at the screens in amazement. This was something he'd never seen before - and if he was honest he wasn't completely sure what he was looking at.

"I'm guessing this is alien in nature?"

"Yep, just something I picked up when I was exploring deep space." Tony shivered.

Bruce nodded his head and tried to take in all the information that Tony had gathered so far.

"This is weird, the way it interacts with cells. It's almost like a virus, but more than that, it's clearly alive - even when outside the host cell. That's certainly not normal."

"I'm trying to find a way to separate it from the cells and destroy it. It emits a very specific energy signature, so I'm tracing it to make sure that no more of it came back with me."

"Have you found any yet?"

"No, but its early days and I want to be certain. I don't really like the way I don't understand it."

"I have to agree. this is frightening, the way it is draining the life from the host cells without taking them over. It's more of a parasite than an infection."

"Sir, Miss Potts would like me to inform you and Dr. Banner that your meal is ready."

"Ok, J. We'll be right down."

Bruce was still engrossed in the new problem Tony had presented him with. "Can you leave this with me?" Mentally, Bruce had already put all his other projects on hold; he had a feeling that this was far more important and time critical.

"Yeah, sure, just keep it under wraps for now - until we know more. No point in panicking people."

Bruce nodded and turned to follow Tony out of the room. Whatever this was, it was sinister and he could tell that it was freaking Tony out too.

"You've got this well contained, right? I mean, it can't get out." Bruce was considering the damage that could be done if it went unrestricted. He had seen the effects on individual cells, but a whole organism was an entirely different ball game.

"Yeah, I've got it contained. It's the fact there may be more out there that worries me." Tony wasn't lying, though he had to admit he was slightly more worried about himself at this point. Jarvis' scans were conclusive - there was no more of this energy on Earth other than what was inside him. The question was, was that a good thing, or a bad thing?

 **Thank you so much for the faves/follows so far guys. Please let me know how you are finding it.**


	10. Chapter 10- Space virus

**Longest chapter so far and things are starting to pick up now. Sorry if this has been a bit slow moving up to now, but I've been trying to create a bit of suspense and we should be moving a bit quicker soon.**

Previously: _Having stayed at the tower to bond and recover from the battle the Avengers saw off Thor and Loki as they travelled back to Asgard and went their separate ways._

 _The energy signature inside of Tony is causing havoc, blacking out half of New York when he had a panic attack. He shows Bruce the problem, but he is just as lost._

 _Meanwhile on Asgard, Thor has been informed of the situation by Odin. The prisoner released by death known as the CAEB has been tracked to Earth, but Odin insists he deal with the problem. (The CAEB inhabits a host, which Asgard had trapped for many millennia, when the host dies the CAEB is released to find a new host.)_

 _ **Chapter 10- Space Virus**_

It was 5am. 5am and Tony's phone was ringing. _Jesus!_ Who would ring at that time seriously? He should have been asleep. Well he wasn't asleep, he was in the lab as normal but that was no excuse to be ringing him at this ungodly hour.

The thought of sleep made Tony yawn painfully, he hadn't allowed himself to sleep since the nightmare incident since he couldn't afford to be smashing any more glass or worse…

It shouldn't have been possible, after more than a week he should have passed out from exhaustion. He certainly was exhausted but it was as if whatever was inside him was draining him but also willing him to survive, hiding the fact Tony looked like the walking dead, concealing itself from everyone but him.

Tony just started at his phone for a while as its vibrations caused it to jump around the table, until the annoying nature of the noise finally convinced him to pick it up.

"Yes."

"Stark we have a situation." Nick Fury, of course, who else.

"Oh really, why am I surprised. Well it's not my fault this time so what do you want me to do about it?"

"Did I just wake you up Stark?"

"Take a wild guess." Of course, Tony hadn't slept, but Bruce thought he had and he needed to keep up the pretence. He was fairly certain that Bruce was reporting his every move to the ever-worried Pepper, who was currently in Miami doing something that he'd decided that he couldn't be bothered with.

"Well Stark I need to borrow your tower for a day or two…"

"What! Why?"

"Relax Stark, there's some sort of virus going round, came through with the Chitauri and is knocking off people on the island. I want to use your facilities to get the team checked over."

A space virus? Tony was intrigued, was this the same thing that was inside him? "I seem to remember you having your own Med Bay."

"Stark, everyone knows you have the best medical facilities in the city and since you and Banner are already there it makes sense everyone else comes to you."

"By everyone, I'm guessing you mean the rest of the Avengers."

"Yes Stark, as well as a fully briefed team of my operatives."

Tony paused, he was talking to the world's head superspy and didn't want to give anything away but he needed to know more.

"What are the chances of one of us having this, and the implications?"

"There have only been one or two cases but you were on the front line so the risk will be higher, you do the math."

"And the implications? Have you got a cure for this thing?"

"You nervous Stark?" Fury's voice was teasing.

"For God's sake will you just give me an answer? I need data." Tony didn't try to defend himself, if he kept up the 'just woken up and pissed' pretence hopefully it would be more convincing than his counter arguments.

"I'll give you what you need when we get to you, we have an antidote of sorts, but an approval from Dr. Banner, and yourself, would be appreciated. We will be arriving in 30 minutes."

The phone went dead. Tony didn't know what to think, could SHIELD really have made an antidote when he and Banner still had no idea what they were facing? He was assuming too much, yet he was praying that this was the same thing that was happening to him.

"Jarvis can you do another scan for this energy signature, targeting specifically places where SHIELD have encountered this virus."

"Sir my processing capability will be diminished by running the scan, so for the sake of time if you could…"

"I'll do the hacking you do the scanning and Jarvis, make it thorough."

"Yes Sir."

…..

"Tony! Man, you look good!" Clint was so glad to be back at the tower, it was just the excuse he needed to return after his leave had ended giving him some much-needed time with his family.

"Thanks feathers, you're not looking so bad yourself."

"That's because he's been sleeping." Bruce came into the room as Clint was dumping his bags on the floor and warmly shaking hands with Tony.

"Brucie! You been enjoying the science time." Clint grinned back.

"Must say I have, what are you doing back and at this time in the morning?" Bruce stood next to Tony and patted him warmly on the shoulder, whilst accepting a handshake from Clint.

"Sorry Bruce I forgot to update you, well actually I thought you were asleep, its 5:30am what are you doing up?"

"Tony do you really need to ask that when it's usually me dragging you to bed." Clint sniggered at Bruce's unfortunate wording, receiving two scowling faces in return.

"Oh, grow up bird brain. Fury called, there's some sort of space virus around and we're all getting checked." Trust Tony to keep it short.

Bruce's face dawned in realization, could this be the same thing Tony had found? Tony's eyes were pleading with him not to say anything and he acknowledged with a gentle nod.

"Do I need to be worried about this virus thingy?" Clint was clearly just as in the dark as Tony felt. "

Don't know yet, Fury has told me zilch, apparently he's going to inform us when he's finished vandalizing my labs."

"Vandalizing?" Bruce raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah SHIELD are setting up their testing facility and making a bloody mess, seriously they are butchers they have no idea what half of that equipment does."

"Sir, the rest of the Avengers have arrived." Clint stared upwards and shivered. Yes, Jarvis was awesome but a voice without a body would always freak him out, especially one a British one that had sarcasm and wit to rival his own. He'd seen enough movies to know the computers always turned.

As if on cue the lift doors slid open to reveal Steve and Natasha, both with a single bag each, obviously used to packing light.

"Rogers, you're 30 seconds late, this is unacceptable behaviour; I'm surprised they haven't demoted you already."

"Nice to see you too Stark." Steve replied darkly, but seeing Tony break out in a smile his mood instantly lightened. The smile became infectious and Steve couldn't help his mouth from turning upwards.

"How you all been keeping? You're looking less bashed around then when I saw you last."

"Yeah Pretty good actually, you're looking good yourself Stark, having Banner around mean you're getting some proper sleep?" Steve was very sincere, he was amazed how different the genius looked when he appeared fully rested.

"It would appear so." Tony glanced over Steve's shoulder as they shook hands catching his reflection in the mirror. He was grey, covered in a glaze of cold sweat and seriously in need of a good feed. He was glad the others couldn't see what he saw.

"Ribs still troubling you?" Clint asked, rubbing the small of his still troublesome back as he sat down.

"Not too bad now, despite Bruce's efforts to demolish them."

Natasha shook her head, but neither she nor Bruce could quite conceal a chuckle. That incident hadn't been in the slightest bit funny at the time and the memory was unpleasant for all of them, but when Stark was in his full flow his body language alone could get a room laughing.

Natasha had greeted Clint with a warm hug. She had to admit both Tony and Bruce looked good, Bruce was obviously suffering from his current all-nighter, but overall, he looked rested. So why was she worried?

She studied them both carefully as they greeted Steve. Seriously what was with all the handshakes? She could tell they were dying for a good old man hug. Everything looked fine at first glance, but the presence of a nagging knot in her stomach warned her otherwise. She knew better than to deny her instincts and on closer inspection Bruce was clearly hiding something, something which he was relating with Tony, but whatever it was Tony was hiding it beautifully. It was probably just some science project or maybe the fact that Tony's ribs weren't as good as he was making out, it certainly wouldn't be the first time. This seemed backed up by Tony's own actions, mainly his subtle surprise when everyone said he was looking good. The way he had cautiously glanced in the mirror over Steve's shoulder was certainly strange, it was as if he didn't believe it and was worried that someone would see otherwise. Maybe it was more than his ribs, was he worried about this virus check? Did he think he had it? She looked again more closely, he was showing absolutely no signs of feeling rough and Natasha struggled to believe that Tony Stark, no matter how good his mask was could evade her observation _that_ well. Maybe he was just so used to looking rough all the time that for someone to be telling him something else for once was a strange experience. She shrugged off her inner monologue of analysis and began to join in with the ensuing banter.

Tony had mentally gritted his teeth when he had lied about his ribs. What had it been… 3 weeks now since the battle? If that. There was absolutely no sign it had ever happened, the way his ribs had healed was crazy, you could always tell a bone that had been previously broken, the body overcompensates for the weakness by growing the bone thicker than it had before, but his was a perfect fix, it had even fixed some of the damage caused by the arc reactors implantation. Despite all the nagging thoughts in his head and his eagerness to get his hands on the data Fury had promised, he allowed himself to relax in his present company. They slid back into conversation like they'd never been apart and you certainly never would have recognized this team now with them when they had first met.

…..

0700 hours

"For God's sake Fury what took you so long?"

"Your computers were running slow Stark, we've uploaded your data, if you and Dr. Banner could review it while we start testing the others."

"You, with SHIELD's horse shit that you call tech, are calling my computers slow?"

"Well they were."

"Jarvis…" There was no answer. "Jarvis, Jarvis where the hell are you?" There was another few second's delay before his AI finally answered.

"My apologies Sir, following your earlier request I received some information which I was cross referencing with our current project, the processing is taking some time."

"Well scratch that for now, I need you firing on all cylinders." Tony couldn't thank his AI enough for being too vague. Even Bruce wasn't quite sure whether the current project was referring to what he thought it was or something completely different. The concept that Jarvis might have found something was, well, it was amazing, he had been waiting so long for a breakthrough and was praying that he would finally get this sorted.

"Shall we get on with it then?" Clint was as impatient as always and Fury led the way back to the lab they had set up for the testing.

…

"Agent Barton is clear." There were four agents other than Fury and the Avengers in the room, two of whom were working with Banner and Stark on the computers and the others were currently scanning and taking blood samples from Natasha.

"Brilliant." Clint couldn't have sounded less enthusiastic if he tried, it had only been half an hour waiting for his results but he was already bored. "Can I go now?" He whined.

"No." Natasha answered simply.

"Why?"

"Because if you think you're bored now, you'll be even more bored on your own in the penthouse with no one to talk to."

Clint opened his mouth to answer and then realized that Natasha as always was being perfectly logical, so returned to sulking instead.

"You should be more relieved Clint, this Virus is nasty and currently no one has survived it." Bruce was still studying the screens intently.

"But haven't SHIELD made an antidote?"

"Yes, an antidote not a cure, it's not guaranteed to work it could still kill the host."

"Oh, great that makes me feel so much better!" Natasha was currently watching them draw blood out of her arm.

"Sorry."

A normal level of chatter erupted but Tony wasn't joining in, he remained silent working on the computer as Bruce analysed Natasha results with the SHIELD technicians and Steve started his tests.

"Stark, what are you doing?" Fury opened his eye from where he had been leant back in the chair when he noticed the absence of the engineer's voice.

"Working."

"Stark."

"What?!"

"If you are hacking SHIELD for more data you won't find any, for once it's on paper where you can't get your grubby fingers on it."

"Fury, how do you expect us to help if you won't even tell us what we're dealing with?"

"You have everything you need for the task Stark."

"But if want us to make your antidote work properly we're going to need more."

"And you'll get it if we decide we need the antidote improving." This perked the heads of the rest of the team, especially Bruce who, already frustrated with the lack of information, stopped working to listen to the ensuing argument.

"Why wouldn't you want the antidote improving?" Steve was always fearless to challenge.

"I have my reasons, which you don't need to know."

"Fury people's lives are at stake, now I'm sat here saying Clint is clear, and you are by the way too Natasha, but I'm only basing that on what you have given me, there may be other blood factors we haven't even considered so how can I know for sure?"

"Are you questioning me?" Fury continued to dig at Bruce and Natasha's Russian Fury was unleashed in the full at her boss. This of course made Clint get stuck in and Steve was already well involved although refrained from the mindless insulting that soon filled the room.

Tony tuned out. Why was Fury doing this? He needed this information, he needed to know if this was the same thing that was inside him and all the shouting was really making him anxious. He knew what had been happening when he got anxious and right now he could feel something inside him building. He'd been trying to formulate a plan to break into Fury's office and get the information he needed but the current Cacophony was stopping him from thinking and therefore stopping his distractions.

"Will you all just shut up!" There was some tangible force in the air when Tony shouted that knocked them all for six. It was like a gust of wind that ushered the room into silence. Tony regained his composure as the falling of silence allowed his anxiety to seep away.

"Sorry guys, but can we just get this over with, and Fury if you're not going to do anything useful just go and wait downstairs or something. The sooner I get SHIELD out of my house the better."

Fury got up indignantly and left the room.

"Well said Tony." Bruce patted him on the back in gratitude, the shouting had certainly not been doing his control of the Hulk much good even though he had it well enough under wraps.

The dynamic of the room went back to its normal cheery demeanour after Fury's departure.

"That's you done Captain Rogers Sir." The SHIELD medic was obviously in awe of meeting his hero which Tony could imagine was getting a bit annoying for Steve by now, but then again maybe not as he was Captain Perfect.

"Thank you." Steve stood up and pointed to the now empty chair. "Looks like you're up Stark."

Tony nodded and plonked himself in the chair lazily, trying to appear as cool as possible though he was aware he was doing a pretty crap job of hiding his anxiety. Natasha noticed his inevitable nervousness and readjusted her mental analysis of the situation.

"If we could do you Dr. Banner at the same time, that would probably be best since we need you both to help with the analysis." Bruce obliged the young medic silently and sat in a spare chair beside Tony.

….

"Mother, may I speak with you."

Thor entered his mother's chambers with caution. There was much he needed to learn, yet asking his Mother to give him information against his Father's word was never a fair calling. Frigga may be Queen and Odin's beloved but she was not exempt from his wrath nor his punishment.

"Of course, my son, I expect there is much you want to know."

"Yes…" Thor began, a little taken aback by his mother's forthrightness.

"But I cannot oblige you much, you understand?" Frigga said sternly.

"Yes, Mother of course." Frigga smiled and ushered her son to sit next to her.

"I will tell you all that I can and you will listen well and not ask any more of me." Thor nodded in response without hesitation.

"The CAEB is indeed real, it has untold power and is evil beyond all knowledge. We can imprison the host by methods known only to your Father and one day these will be known only to you. The CAEB's imprisonment has been the responsibility of Asgard for the last ten millennia. When the CAEB's host dies, as it did recently by a slip in our defences, it inhabits another, one whom is committing great sacrifice. Your Father believes it to be on Earth and its distinct energy signature has confirmed it to be so. They have confined the search to a single landmass and await the CAEB's next mistake. Heimdall has not yet been able to see it, so we do not believe it has fully consumed the host yet. For now, we must wait." Frigga finished and looked warmly at her son, she could see he had many more questions but as she had requested he refrained from asking any more of her.

Thor was frustrated he kept hitting dead ends. It was his responsibility to protect Midgard, yet he couldn't get the information he so sorely needed to do so. He was immensely grateful for his Mother's words, most of what she had said, had repeated that which he had learned from his father, though the new information was of great help to him. "Thank you, Mother." He bowed his head and began to leave. Frigga shook her head.

"Thor there are those who know as much as I but are less bound to secrecy."

"Would you be able to be more specific?"

"Yes." Frigga smiled softly and paused, "Heimdall and…" Thor wondered why his Mother hesitated so, but he had his answer soon enough. "Heimdall and Loki."

Thor cocked his head in confusion. Why would father trust Loki with information that he had denied his eldest son? After a pause he acknowledged his Mother once more and proceeded to leave the chambers.

Once he was out in the hall he considered his options, approaching Loki wasn't one; he may still love his Brother but he would never have his trust again, he had betrayed him far too many times for forgiveness. Heimdall had been good to him in the past, yet there was always the chance he would refuse to offer him any more information. Still that was his only option and he was hardly going to be idle when Midgard was in danger.

…..

Thor had often made the long trip to the end of the rainbow bridge to talk with Heimdall. His stories had fascinated both he and his brother as a child, so it seemed strange not be visiting him at his usual watch post. Of course, that was because it had been destroyed by Thor himself during Loki's first escapade. Heimdall had a temporary post which was not such a long walk, of course a long walk hardly concerned Thor now that he could fly.

"My liege, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I think you know why Heimdall, not much can elude you."

"Indeed, My Prince, you seek knowledge about the CAEB which your father has forbidden. But I see how you care for Midgard and it would be a great disadvantage to have our Prince and greatest warrior ill informed." Heimdall gave a wry smile and Thor relaxed.

"Thank you Heimdall."

"Is there anything in particular you wish to know?"

"All that I do not already Heimdall, why in particular is it of such concern that the new host is human?"

"Humans have an incredibly short lifespan, even once we have caught and contained the CAEB when the host dies, it is again released. Finding the CAEB is difficult and if we do not find it before it reaches its full power it will be nearly impossible to contain."

"How powerful can it become?"

"The CAEB itself has infinite power, but it is limited by the strength of its host. The last host was a Kree, the power he could have potentially unleashed would have destroyed galaxies."

"But surely if the host is human then its power will be greatly muted."

"Indeed, but a human host poses a bigger threat."

"How?"

"A human body is weak, its takes great strength to contain the CAEB, eventually the human form will not be able to contain it. The host body is still a prison to the CAEB, it corrupts the host and bends it to its will, however its ultimate goal is to escape the host and gain its own form, only then it can reach its full power."

"So, you are saying that usually the host form is strong enough to contain it, but with a human the CAEB will escape."

"And cause untold destruction."

"So how close are we to finding it?"

"Very, we have pinpointed its location to within 1000 square miles within the country known as America."

"America!" That news vexed Thor, his friends may be in great danger.

"I will not be any use until the CAEB has fully consumed the host, before then the CAEB is able to conceal its energy and keep the signature faint, so I cannot see it."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"No my Prince I'm afraid there is not. I understand your eagerness to help, but in this instance, I would suggest that you let your Father deal with this. I know how much you care for Midgard but there is only one way to deal with the CAEB and only your father knows how."

Thor contemplated Heimdall words. This CAEB was surely dangerous and he knew not how to deal with it, the last thing he wanted was his interference to end in unnecessary death or suffering. He would step aside in this instance and let his Father deal with the problem. He would be watching closely however, and ready to act if something should go wrong.

…

"Mr. Stark you are clear."

Tony just stared at the young medic in disbelief. "I'm sorry what?"

"You're clear Mr. Stark, no signs of the virus." Tony's heart stopped dead. So, what the hell was wrong with him?

The others hadn't been paying attention but suddenly all eyes were on Tony.

"Oh, ok sorry I was somewhere else." Tony shook his head slightly as if he were trying to bring his mind back to the real world, but his save wasn't good enough to fool Natasha, and struck a chord with Bruce as he started to put the pieces together.

It turned out the entire team was clear. Tony had re-checked the results as a precaution, or that's what he told them, in reality he was checking his own results over and over again. Bruce stood silently at the door of the lab watching. Tony had been convinced there was something wrong with him, but why? He had a very strong hunch, but it would involve testing the DNA in those cells that Tony had presented him. A few hours of testing later and Bruce had his answers.

When he returned to the penthouse the usual chatter had broken out, Bruce sat down and joined in but couldn't help glancing at Tony.

Tony had sat silently since the tests, he was very still and contemplative, staring into space as if he wasn't even on the same planet as the rest of the room. Natasha had seen that look on Tony's face before when he was dying from palladium poisoning. The deep look of worry and sadness in his eyes when he thought that no one was watching. It was strange though, there was fear in there too and there hadn't been last time. One thing she knew was that Tony Stark didn't fear death, so what was he so afraid of?

It took a long while for the others to notice the absence of Tony's sarcastic remarks and sharp comebacks from the conversation and it was Steve who first turned his attention to the silent Genius.

"Something on your mind Stark?" The genius didn't respond and just kept staring into space so Steve tried again. "Tony!"

"Hmm... what?" Tony looked around slightly dazed. Steve frowned. Tony still looked fine but something didn't seem right. He just couldn't put his finger on it.

"Are you ok? You haven't said a word all day."

"Yeah sorry Guys. Just running stuff up here." He tapped a finger on his temple lightly. "In fact, if you don't mind there's some stuff I need to do before I forget." He got up and with a smile proceeded down to his lab.

The others looked at each other in confusion for a moment, before Bruce got up.

"It's alright guys he does that, that guy's head never turns off. I'll go and check on him."

…

This was all just a bad dream. It had to be. There was no other explanation for it. Why else would the world dangle the carrot of his problems resolution in his face only to realize the thing was poisoned and leave him with nothing but a bitter after taste or possibly worse. He was well and truly back to square one. Jarvis' scans had proven beyond doubt that the space virus was just that, and absolutely nothing to do with what he had.

Tony went straight for his decanter and started pouring, his hand shaking slightly in rage and fear. He downed the drink in one, and then another and another. Who was he kidding, the drink wouldn't solve his problems nor would it make him feel better about them, he knew that well enough from experience.

"Damn it!" He picked up the decanter and threw it at the wall taking satisfaction as it shattered spilling brown liquid all over the floor.

Tony hadn't noticed Bruce come in.

"Tony, are you ok?" Tony wasn't ok, not by any means and he knew that it was far too late to try and talk his way out of this.

Bruce just watched as Tony sank to his knees in defeat. His shoulders were shaking in pain and exhaustion, there were no physical signs but if Bruce had deduced correctly there wouldn't be.

Bruce sank down next to Tony with his back against the wall.

"So, I checked the DNA in those cells you gave me."

"Hmmm."

"And it was yours." Tony nodded silently and Bruce continued. "So that either means that you used your cells to see how this thing you found in space interacted with them, or you never found it in space at all, you found it in you."

Tony didn't reply. Bruce already knew the answer.

"You were hoping that this virus SHIELD found was it, weren't you?"

"Yes."

Bruce knew how much whatever this was would be completely draining Tony, the man he was looking at was likely in immense pain, barely struggling to stay alive and getting worse with every passing second.

"How much has it taken over."

"Jarvis?"

" 80.1% Sir."

"And how long do we have to it reaches 100%" Bruce turned to addressing Jarvis.

"Approximately 39 hours."

"Shit." Bruce rarely swore but this situation called for it. "How are you still standing?"

"I don't know, I've lost 12kg I'm eating like a horse, when I look in the mirror all I see is grey skin and protruding bones. My ribs healed after 2 days, 2days Bruce!"

Bruce's mouth dropped a little.

"How are we not seeing this?"

"I don't know, there's everyone telling me I look well when that's not what I see, I feel like death and that's not all."

Bruce braced himself, not really knowing how things could get much worse.

"The glass in the lab, taking out the power across half of New York. That all happened when I get stressed, or panicked or angry, not because of a technical glitch or me overloading the systems."

Bruce could feel Tony getting more and more agitated. "Tony…"

"Bruce if this gets any worse….

"Tony…"

"I don't know what to do, SHIELD will have me locked up if they find out…"

"Tony, they are not going to find out."

Tony looked at Bruce quizzically.

"They are not going to find out because I am not going to tell them."

Tony frowned again. "Why?"

"Tony, I know what it like is to have something dangerous inside you. Something you can't control. It may not seem like it now but it's going to be ok, because I'm going to help you. I'd have got a lid on the Hulk years ago if I hadn't been chased all over the globe and I'm sure as hell not going to let the same happen to my friend."

Bruce and Tony just gazed at each other. Tony couldn't believe that someone would agree to help him, someone would consider him a friend in that way. Of course, Bruce was the best person he could have asked for to help him, to learn to control the uncontrollable, but he didn't feel that he deserved his support. Bruce felt exactly the opposite.

Bruce could see the fear and conflict in Tony's eyes, for once it was too much for him to hide. He slipped his hands behind Tony's shoulder and pulled him in towards him.

Tony didn't resist, he just let Bruce hold him and he felt the emotion slowly drain away as it was smothered by the constant wave of pain and exhaustion that was dragging him down.

Bruce had always wished there was someone who understood exactly how he felt. Now he wished that there wasn't. He felt Tony slowly relax, calming down from his alarmingly controlled breakdown. He doubted Tony had ever truly broken down in front of someone, he was too withdrawn for that. He made a silent promise to be there for Tony through all of this, to protect him from whoever decided that he was too dangerous to be left in the world, just as he had wished there had been someone there to help him in the early days.

"When was the last time you got some sleep Tony?"

"Last night."

"Don't bullshit me, I know you've been going back down to the lab, I checked with Jarvis."

Tony glared at the ceiling. "Not since you came down and put the blanket on me, thanks for that by the way."

"Your welcome Tony, but shit! That was weeks ago. That's inhuman."

"I know."

"Right you're going to sleep right now."

"I can't Bruce."

"Sure you can."

"No really I can't!" Tony's voice became desperate very suddenly which knocked Bruce back.

"This thing, it… it gives me nightmares and when I get scared I break shit. The first time it was a door, then the glass, then the power for half the city. I can't risk finding out what it will be next."

Bruce rubbed his temples. Tony had a valid point but he desperately needed that sleep.

"Go on, get yourself on the couch. I'll have Jarvis monitoring you and I'll wake you up the moment any shit starts."

"Bruce, I'm not sure."

"Tony I'm here for you. Just try 20mins."

"Ok." Tony resigned, he was desperate to sleep but so worried about the consequences he wondered if he actually could. As soon as he was tucked up on the couch however, his body overrode his head and he fell into unconsciousness.

…..

Nobody had noticed Natasha leave the room, nor seen her return. She was after all trained to be a ghost and the others had gone to explore their newly finished personal floors courtesy of Tony Stark.

She had followed Bruce and Tony down to the lab, firstly out of concern but when she had heard things smashing she'd decided just to wait and listen.

What she heard shocked her deeply. Something serious was happening to Tony, as far as she could tell he had caused the power blackout just with his mind. He was dying, had lost 12kg yet none of them could see it. But the fear was not for his own life but for everyone else's. If two of the top scientists in the world didn't really know what they were facing then there seemed very little hope.

She knew she was duty bound to tell SHIELD, but Bruce was completely right. It was her duty as an Avenger and Tony's friend to protect him, even if he would never trust her. She couldn't watch SHIELD lock him up or force him on the run because of something they didn't understand, because if Tony and Bruce were in the dark there was no way that SHIELD could help.

…..

Bruce watched Tony sleep, he was disturbingly still and didn't so much as flinch when Bruce, who had been trying far too hard to be quiet, had consequently smashed his mug of coffee when he tripped over a box, creating an almighty clatter.

He watched Tony's vitals with a sick feeling. He was relaxed and asleep yet his heart rate was constantly over 190bpm, it was unhealthily high, his blood pressure was well up as was his breathing rate. Yet, to look at, he appeared completely normal.

The 20minutes passed without incident and Bruce couldn't bring himself to wake Tony. Bruce himself was exhausted, but he would give Tony another 3hours of much needed rest before he gave up and turned his attention to sleep. It was only early afternoon thanks to the early start, there would probably be a lot of coffee consumed before the day ended.

…..

It was growing dark, it had been a long day but on no way a boring one, despite the long absence of two of the team.

Steve had been amazed at the gym facility Tony had set up for them. There were individual training rooms which, according to Jarvis, could be modelled holographically to fit any battle scenario. Steve had spent hours in the new gym, trying out all the equipment, having not seen a lot of it before and was now utterly exhausted. Indoors was never going to be as good as his morning run yet he imagined he would end up spending nearly as much time in here as Tony and Banner did in the labs.

For Clint, there was just so much to do, games rooms, training rooms, an awesome swimming pool; he was living the dream. He had his own personal shooting range, with training programs designed to really test him with near impossible shots, which certainly made a change to the standard 50ft targets he'd been stuck with at SHIELD.

What Clint and the others didn't know is that all the data from their training was sent directly to Tony and he planned on analysing it to the most minute detail so he could see exactly what he could do to improve their equipment. He wanted them to be able to work with it as one, just like he did with the suit.

The non-sciencey trio as Clint had dubbed them sat quietly in the communal living room as the darkness fell outside. Steve was drawing, Natasha analysing every function of the Stark pad and Clint watching whatever inane rubbish was currently on the TV.

Natasha couldn't keep thinking about Tony's current predicament. She had only heard one conversation and yet it filled her with dread. Now she had so many questions, but wasn't sure if admitting to them that she knew was such a good idea. After all, Tony's workshop was sacred, he didn't trust her as it was and him finding out that she had been snooping outside listening in on a private conversation would mean she could kiss any chance of regaining that trust goodbye.

That being said, when the ground started shaking and the tower started swaying she was on her feet and down to the lab without a second's hesitation, leaving the two men behind to figure out what was happening.

…..

"What's going on?" Clint turned off the TV as the rumbling grew louder and cups started jumping around on the table. Steve used his lightning reactions to grab one such cup before it had the chance to fall and smash on the floor and looked out the window to see the rest of the city's skyscrapers swaying slightly.

"Earthquake? In New York, that's rare."

"And that's not good!" Clint said, pointing to the adjacent building which was swaying rather more than the rest.

"No," Steve admitted calmly, "No, It's not." The newly christened Avengers tower was swaying much less than the buildings around it, trust Tony to insist on not just meeting all the standards but exceeding them.

"Should we evacuate?" Clint was getting quite jumpy. They were right at the top of a skyscraper and it was an awful long way down if the building didn't hold out.

"Not sure, this building seems to be holding out well it's our neighbors that I'm worried about, we don't want them crashing our party." Steve was getting seriously worried about the swaying building next door, if it came down there was a 50/50 chance it would be swaying their way when it did and that meant there was a very real danger that it would take Avengers Tower out with it. "Tony will have emergency procedures, we wait for him. I'm assuming that's where Natasha has gone." Clint nodded and gritted his teeth, stepping away from the edge of the building.

Natasha was amazed to find Tony's workshop silent and still. He must have put in some serious damping and protection to keep this room isolated from the rest of the shaking tower. It made sense she supposed, if he caused an explosion the last thing they wanted was it to affect the whole building. Tony was still sound asleep, his heart rate at an immensely high 185bpm, and he had to be having a nightmare which she was guessing was responsible for the earthquake.

Natasha strode over to Tony's couch and knelt quietly beside him, carefully slipping a hand under the blanket Bruce had so carefully wrapped him in and started gently rubbing his arm.

Bruce hadn't heard her come in, in fact he had barely noticed her even when she walked right in front of him, seriously that was just weird!

"Natasha what are you doing?" Bruce's voice was hushed but inflicted with surprise, Natasha held up a hand to silence him.

"Bruce, I heard. I know what's wrong with Tony." Bruce's heart leapt, Tony certainly didn't want Natasha knowing, and in fairness although he was fond of the redhead having a SHIELD agent in on the secret was the worst possible scenario. But that still didn't answer his question.

"Bruce, there's an earthquake and Tony's heart rate is through the roof, he's having a nightmare."

"An earthquake?" Why couldn't they feel it in here?

"Dr. Banner I can confirm Miss Romanov's statement; the workshop is heavily isolated from the rest of the tower so the effects will not be felt.

"But his heart rate, it's gone down."

"Gone down!" Natasha was shocked, but kept her calm tone of voice as she gradually began to put more force into waking up the sleeping engineer. "What the hell was it at before?" "Steady at 192bpm, blood pressure has dropped as well, I thought his body was finally getting a tiny bit of respite from the strain it is under."

"Tony, Tony you need to wake up now."

"You're going to struggle, he's in deep, I made quite a racket earlier and he didn't even flinch."

"I don't want to bring him out suddenly in case he panics." She continued rubbing his arm and gently ran a finger through his hair. She would wake him as quickly, but as gently as possible. She was well aware of Bruce's nervous energy, which although it wasn't a tangible thing Tony would probably be picking up on.

"Bruce, talk to him, he'll respond better to your voice than mine." Bruce nodded and did as she asked, which instantly seemed to calm him down having something to do. "Bruce, it's probably best if Tony doesn't know, I know."

"Yes." Bruce was glad they were on the same page. "Natasha if you sell this to SHIELD or anyone else for that matter I will…"

"Bruce." Natasha looked into his eyes, "I'm not going to betray him. We're a family now and I want to help in any way I can."

Bruce wondered how someone who had trained for so long not to convey any emotion could speak so much with her eyes alone. Natasha was completely sincere, she meant every word of it. These boys meant more to her than anyone else ever had. 'Was this love agent Romanov.' Yes, she supposed it was.

…..

Tony was having a weird dream, it wasn't a nightmare by any means but it wasn't exactly a fairy-tale either. It was too random and completely off the wall to be anything truly frightening but right now it was getting a bit unsettling.

The images started to fade away as the cloud of sleep seemed to be slowly drifting into oblivion. He could hear someone's gentle voice, it was familiar and soothing, as was the sensation of a light hand on his arm and running through his hair.

"Tony Buddy, you need to wake up."

Tony gave a relaxed sigh and rubbed his eyes. Waking up was never easy, especially when he was this tired.

Natasha took this time to leave the room, if Tony didn't know she'd been here he wouldn't suspect.

Clint and Steve upstairs were just about ready to go down and find Tony, Bruce and Natasha when the rumbling and shaking slowly began to subside. It took a few minutes for the ground to grow still and the gentle sway of the buildings would probably take a few more to subside.

"Just a short one then." Clint breathed a sigh of relief.

"It would seem so." Steve agreed. Clint just gawped at him as the Captain sat down and returned to his drawing as if nothing had happened. That guy was seriously too good to be true. He set off in search of someone more human, surely one of the other three must be freaking out as much as he was.

Tony gently sat up and stretched, he had to say he felt better, he still felt on the sunny side of death, but at least it wasn't as bad as before. He gingerly opened his eyes and was pleasantly surprised by the lack of blinding light which usually gave him a migraine for the rest of the day.

"Hey Bruce." Tony smiled. Bruce smiled a genuine warm smile back, he was so pleased that Tony had woken up calm and there was a genuine spark in his eye as if the rest had done him good.

"You look better." Bruce said truthfully. Eyes were the doorway to the soul, or so they said and Tony's were the only signal he had as to his real wellbeing.

"I feel better, thanks." Tony yawned midsentence and looked around the room. Everything seemed to be in order. "I had a weird dream, but no nightmares thank God! Did I break anything?"

"Well…" Bruce was infinitely grateful that Natasha chose that moment to enter and relieve him from the duty of explaining to Tony exactly what he'd broken.

"Tony, can you come upstairs there's an earthquake and Clint's freaking out." Natasha of course hadn't seen Clint but she knew him well enough. He was great in a crisis, but only when there was something he could clearly fight and you can't really fight an earthquake.

"Oh." Tony winced internally and looked at Bruce, who mouthed back a silent apologetic 'sorry'. Great, looks like sleep was well and truly off the cards for the future, well he supposed it wasn't that big of a deal considering he only had two days left till crunch time.

"Ok, I'll be right up."

Clint bounded down the stairs like an excited puppy dog. "Earthquake's stopped we can all breathe!"

Tony did, very nearly audibly.

"Seriously Tony can you sort out your neighbours, your building was as solid as a rock but I thought there's was going to land on top of us."

"Oh you Drama Queen Clint, buildings are meant to sway in an earthquake, it's part of what makes them not collapse." Natasha shook her head in disbelief

"Not by that much they're not." Clint was disappointed that he was the only one freaking out.

"Jarvis, how strong was the earthquake?" Bruce was glad they had been isolated down in the workshop, earthquakes were certainly not pleasant. "3.8 on the Richter scale, no major damage reported on the news."

Tony nodded relieved. "Is it lunchtime yet I'm starving."

"God, you boys have been down here too long! Its 7pm Tony."

"Oh, well then it's definitely lunchtime then."

They made their way back up the stairs chatting. Tony was immensely glad for the slow pace, although to them it may look like he was taking the stairs easily, to him it felt like he was climbing a mountain.

"Look at Steve, cool as a cucumber. Did you even notice the Earthquake?"

"No, I don't think he did!" Clint replied on Steve's behalf, "he was just like, 'meh earthquake boring.'"

Steve looked up from his sketch book and shook his head. "It wasn't a bad one Clint and I was just as disconcerted by it as you."

"You hungry Steve?"

"I already ate."

"That's not what I asked." Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Well, not if you're cooking."

"The cheek!" The other's started laughing and Tony put on a very indignant look. "Well if that's the way you all feel you can cook for yourselves."

Bruce approached Tony quietly. "Can I have a word?" Tony nodded and they stepped out into the corridor, Natasha made sure she was within earshot of the conversation, and that Steve with his super hearing was not.

"Tony, I know this afternoon didn't exactly go to plan but please tell me you'll try and sleep again."

"Bruce, after today I can't risk it."

"Tony I'm sorry, I was honestly constantly monitoring your vitals, as was Jarvis, it's just your heart rate was so high that it was impossible to tell if you were dreaming. We could start monitoring brain activity, there are other ways..."

"Bruce, I know and I don't blame you. You tried, you were there for me that honestly means a lot, but there's no point trying anything new, you've lost enough sleep as it is and I've got less than two days left anyway."

"Tony, we don't know what's going to happen in two days, you could be fine."

"Bruce seriously what are the chances of that?"

"We don't know Tony, we don't know anything, so whatever is to come we need you to be as ready as possible and that means well rested."

"Bruce…"

"No Tony. Bruce is right." Bruce visibly winced when Natasha walked in on them.

"What... Natasha." Tony side glanced at Bruce and took a step back slightly. "Please, no." Tony got very visibly distressed at Natasha's appearance. "You know! How?" He looked from Bruce to Natasha in a near frenzy, "this can't be happening, this seriously can't be happening!"

"Tony, calm down. Yes, I know, but no one told me, ok? Bruce isn't to blame. I followed him down to the lab earlier because I was worried about _you_ and I heard what you both said. No one else is going to find out, least of all SHIELD you have my word on that and I know that doesn't mean much to you but it's the best I can do."

Tony took a few deep breaths, he studied Natasha intently and it seemed that her words were genuine. Still, she deceived people for a living so he never really knew if she was serious or not.

"If you really mean that Natasha, thank you, but neither of you are going to convince me that trying to sleep again is a good idea."

"Tony, we can come up with a way…"

"No Bruce we don't have the time."

"We could tranq you."

"What!" Bruce and Tony reacted simultaneously.

"We could tranq you." Natasha repeated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You don't dream when you're out cold."

Natasha had a point, but Tony still didn't like the idea of being completely helpless in their hands. "Could that work Bruce?" He asked, hoping that Bruce would dispel the idea instantly.

Bruce pondered for a moment. "Yes, I think it could. I'll need to do some checks and make sure I get the dosage spot on, but that might well work."

"Ok, then get busy and tell me when you've finished." Natasha left them just as suddenly as she had arrived and left them both dumfounded.

…

"You know what guys this is a really bad idea, how would you wake me up if something went wrong?"

"Tony we've been through this, I've set the dosage so it would take us seconds to bring you round."

"Yeah, but what if it goes wrong?"

"Tony, I've seen your vitals you should be dead and we are trying to keep your stubborn ass alive so just get on with it and whatever happens we'll deal with it."

Tony slouched back on his bed, IV line already inserted courtesy of Bruce. He wasn't going to argue with Natasha, it would only end badly and painfully, though he couldn't imagine being in much more pain right now.

"Ok, get it over with."

Bruce nodded and slid the hypodermic needle into the IV. Tony closed his eyes and rolled onto his side to make himself comfy.

Bruce and Natasha waited for a few minutes watching, Tony didn't stir so they made their way towards the door. Just as they were about to leave a voice took them by surprise.

"Guy's if that was meant to knock me out it hasn't worked, I just feel a bit sleepy." Tony rolled onto his back to face them and yawned while Bruce's face twisted in confusion.

"What? I got the dosage spot on!"

"Dr. Banner, the energy signature is causing Sir to metabolize the drug rather quickly. I have recalculated the suggested dosage."

Bruce looked at the readouts Jarvis had pulled up and did a double take. "No way Jarvis, I'm not comfortable with that."

"Dr. Banner, I understand your concern but my calculations are seldom wrong."

"Never wrong!" Tony piped up. "After all I did make him."

"But that could kill him; that could kill a horse!"

"I trust Jarvis, Bruce, give it a go if you kill me, you kill me, I'm going to die in two days anyway."

Tony's flippant and complete lack of care about the fact he might die really shocked the pair of them. Natasha had known of his reckless and self-destructive nature, but he rolled that sentence off his tongue like he was asking about the weather.

"Tony, we don't know that." Natasha stepped in. "I agree Bruce it's not worth the risk."

"Seriously guys, look at what this thing's doing, there is only one way this is going to end and there is no point in denying it. 'Just give it a go' you were telling me five minutes ago, I trusted you, so now trust me, it's going to be fine."

Bruce and Natasha looked at each other hesitantly.

"And if it isn't guys, you are not to blame."

"Tony there is still time to find a solution." Bruce was desperate to convince his friend that there was still hope, but unfortunately Tony had done the math and knew that the prospects were grim.

"Maybe there is Bruce, but when I said I had 39hours, well that's accelerated. You need me rested you said, but at 3pm tomorrow that readout is going to hit 100%." Tony pointed at the screen beside his bed. "I know I have no right to ask this of you, but if tomorrow I don't die and I become something else, if I am hurting people and I can't control it you are going to have to put me down." Bruce looked like he was fighting back tears and Natasha bowed her head. Stark was right, but that didn't make it any easier to think about. That wasn't going to happen, they couldn't let it happen.

"Ok, I'll put you out for 8hours, you'll be awake at 7am at the latest, I'll get some sleep too then we'll hit this problem full force."

Tony nodded. "Make sure I'm awake by 6am. I want to say goodbye to Pepper. She's getting home late and leaving at 7, so I don't want to miss her."

Natasha's heart sank. God if this went badly there was going to be a whole lot of heart break, and a lot of explaining to do to SHIELD, but that was the least of her worries. 3pm tomorrow would big the biggest moment of most of their lives.

 **Oh dear, things aren't looking good for Tony. Of course, I couldn't let the solution be that easy or I wouldn't have had a story! Hope you are enjoying it. A review or two would be appreciated if anyone has the time to give me a line. Thank you for reading.**


	11. Chapter 11- The Emergence

**Massive shout out to my first reviewer thank you for such a lovely review, reading it honestly made my day, I can't tell you how pleased I am that your enjoying this!**

 **Another big chapter for you! And a massive thank you to all my followers, I'd never expected to get so many. If you've found any typos in any of this I do apologise, if they are really annoying you please point them out and I'll happily rectify everything.** ** _Another big chapter for you! And a massive thank you for everyone who's commented or given Kudos. Early update, so there may even be a second today._**

Previously:

 _With an unknown energy signature draining the life out of him Tony has been getting progressively worse since he first found it after the battle. For some reason. The energy signature is masking its effects, anyone who looks at him cannot see the huge weight loss and dire state that Tony Stark is in._

 _Following a space virus scare, which was not the answer to Tony's problem, Bruce finally gets him to admit what's wrong and Natasha who followed them to the lab also finds out having eavesdropped._

 _Said problem causes an earthquake to add to the blackout and smashed glass when Bruce tries to get the majorly sleep deprived Tony to rest._

 _Meanwhile Thor has managed to find out a little more from his mother and Heimdall, yet believes that his father is best to deal with the CAEB problem so is taking a step back._

 _Tony agrees to let them sedate him so he can get a good night's rest before crunch time at 3pm and the energy signature attaches to 100% of his cells. Tony isn't hopeful and he's not hiding it._

 ** _Chapter 11- The Emergence_**

Blinding pain coursed through Tony's every fibre. He tried to open his eyes but the dull light in the room gave him a searing pain which burnt his retinas and made him gasp. The world was hazy around him, he could hear a familiar voice in the background but he had no idea what had happened or where he was. He tried hard to dredge up the answers, but the pain was unbearable, his own tears prickled his skin like his face was being held up to a lighter. He wanted to scream and writhe with the agony of it, but it was like he was being crushed, the heavy weight on his chest stopped him from breathing.

He knew this was the end, with this amount of pain it couldn't be anything else, but he needed to know what had happened and what was going on. He barely had the strength to scream. He tried again to open his eyes and wriggle slightly, the pain caused him to choke and splutter but the haze had started to lift. He was fairly certain he was in his own bed. Yes of course the sedative! The drugs had been very powerful but he'd thought he'd at least have felt some benefit of the 8 hours of sleep he'd gained in return and not woken up in this state. Whatever was wrong, it was more than just the drugs.

As his senses grew less fuzzy he realized it had been Jarvis talking, warning him of something, something had accelerated? Finally, the AI seemed to notice his predicament.

"Sir, you are in distress should I call Dr. Banner."

'Yes' Tony wanted to scream 'yes, help me Jarvis please!' But what he heard his own voice say next made his heart skip a beat.

"No Thanks Jarvis, I'm fine."  
Tony did a double take. That wasn't him, he hadn't said that! Tony looked down the bed at his own body, it seemed to be surrounded by a blue haze which shifted suddenly. Tony couldn't believe his own eyes as the blue haze began to draw in closer to his body, arranged now in his perfect outline. The blue glow then began to sit up, as it left Tony's body it was no longer just a ball of blue energy but a human, made of skin and flesh and wearing clothes. It gracefully stood up from the bed and in one effortless movement turned to face him. Tony's heart stopped when he realized he was looking at himself.  
It was like his ghost had just left his body, but surely if he was dead he should be the one standing. What the fuck was going on? Had he just died? Was he hallucinating? It had to be the sedative, it was screwing him over.

He scrutinized the other version of himself. He was dubbing it his evil twin, because well, it looked bloody evil. It was him, exactly the same apart from the fact he was a good 7kg heavier and looking in absolutely perfect health. He was trim and muscular, just like he had been in his teens and early twenties when he was still training like an idiot in the pool. It now dawned on him that this is what the others had been seeing all along. While he'd been getting thinner and thinner, more and more ill with the strain of containing whatever ever was inside him the others had been seeing this perfect version of himself. No wonder everyone had been saying he looked good, he couldn't help but admire himself for a moment, he did look absolutely incredible! But catching the image of his real self momentarily in the mirror quickly sobered him up, reminding him that whatever was happening right now was very, very serious.

Before the others had seen a different Tony Stark but at least it had still said and done whatever Tony had, but now this evil twin seemed to have control over itself.

The evil twin turned to the helpless Tony and smiled. "It's nearly time." It was Tony's voice that spoke but the infliction on it made him shiver in fear, he didn't even know he could talk like that. Tony followed his twin's gaze to the screen beside him and his heart stopped again. 99.7%, but that wasn't possible. He glanced at the clock, 6:00am so Bruce had done the dosage perfectly but the speed at which the energy had taken over his body had vastly accelerated in his sleep. That was what Jarvis had been telling him! He guessed he had a matter of minutes before it took over completely.

Tony, incapacitated or not never moved with so much urgency in his life. He was out of bed like a flash, ignoring the pain in his blind panic and came crashing to the floor as his legs gave out. The evil twin moved too, but not far. Even though it had gained its own voice it still seemed tied to him, like it couldn't go where he wasn't. Tony dragged himself across the floor and struggled to haul himself high enough to open his door. Tears ran in a constant stream down his face, he screamed as finally his hands slipped off the handle revealing the corridor behind and he came crashing back to the hard floor. The lift seemed so far away and all he could manage was a few centimeters at a time as he clawed his way down the corridor on his front. He had to find Bruce, but he had no idea where he was. It seemed like an age before he reached the lift and when he did he was at a loss. Which floor? Was Bruce still asleep? He could be in the labs, the penthouse, anywhere and he hadn't the strength or time to search them all. He opened his mouth to speak the words but had no strength, thankfully his evil twin did.

"Jarvis where is Bruce?"

"On the communal floor." Yes, yes! Tony had no idea why his twin now seemed to be helping him but he was so grateful. He simply had to think the next sentence and the twin obliged.

"Ok Jarvis take me to him."

….

Bruce had been talking to Pepper after waking up, he'd felt so much better after that sleep and he was just about to go check on Tony when the lift doors opened. Tony was stood there, still as a statue and didn't move for a good 30 seconds.

"Tony what's going on?" Pepper looked at him in confusion.

"Nothing I'm fine." The reply was instantaneous and almost robotic and Bruce immediately smelt a rat.

"Pepper can you please go get Natasha." Bruce had a really bad feeling that everyone was in danger, whatever was stood before them wasn't Tony.

"Why?" Pepper was hugely confused, there was a dark look on Bruce's face that made worry bite at her stomach.

"Please Pepper just do it and take the stairs." Bruce pleaded with her and seeing the desperation in his eyes she practically ran to the stairs.

…...

Jarvis had watched his creator progressively tense as the sedative had worn off and his nerves had started to register the pain. His heart rate was now at 215bpm, Jarvis knew that he would not last much longer under this strain, but with a projected 22.6mins remaining before 100% was achieved he would not have to. The energy signature had been replicating rapidly, beyond anything Jarvis could have predicted and he had been powerless to protect his creator. There was no point informing anyone until Tony was free from the sedative's hold, but as soon as he was Jarvis found he was unable to relay any information to Dr. Banner, or alert anyone in the tower. The energy signature was blocking him, but it couldn't block everything.

Jarvis had seen the twin separate from Tony, the energy signature couldn't influence what a computer saw as there were no neurons for it to interfere with, hence why Jarvis had been able to see Tony as he really was all along. Jarvis needed to let Tony know that he could see him as well as the clone, if the real Tony could communicate with Jarvis then Jarvis could ensure that the twin was not in complete control.

…..

"Where's Tony." Bruce wasn't going to mess about.

"In the lift, unfortunately I can't yet stray far from him. But that won't be for long." The evil twin had stepped into the center of the room.

"Get out of him, now." Bruce was now definitely turning an alarming shade of green but it wasn't quite time to Hulk out just yet.

"Believe me I'm trying. You won't have long to wait before I'm free."

"And then what will happen to Tony?"

"Whether he survives or not will depend on how much strength he has left, which isn't a lot. I am surprised a mortal has been able to hold me for so long."

"What are you?" Bruce was watching the screen in the corner tick slowly every few seconds, 99.95%, 99.96% and with-it Bruce's tension rose.

"I am the CAEB and I have waited a long time to be free." The smile that twisted on the CAEB's face was so malicious that made Bruce take a step back. This CAEB was identical to Tony in every way, except the tone of his voice and Tony's usually deep brown eyes were slowly but surely beginning to turn a deep shade of blue.

Natasha chose that moment to arrive, she was instantly drawn to Tony's blue eyes and then to the screen in the corner as she analyzed her environment and quickly understood the situation.

"You weren't supposed to show up till after lunch." Natasha wasn't exactly sure what she was talking to, but this CAEB as it called itself was certainly not Tony.

"I'm sorry to drop in early but I was getting impatient. I have waited eons for this moment." The false Tony tilted its head to one side in welcome of the new visitor to the room.

"Well if you've waited that long, what's a few more hours."

The CAEB chuckled, sounding less and less like Tony by the second. 99.98%. The blue glow didn't just emanate from Tony's eyes now but sat in a haze around his whole body.

Tony could do nothing but lay in the lift, sleep was desperate to take him and he was almost ready to let it, even though he knew if it did he would never wake up. All he wanted was for the pain to be over, yet he couldn't leave his friends while there was such a real danger. He had no idea what he could do about it in his current state but he wasn't a genius for nothing and he was hardly going to die without trying everything first. He started to look around the lift for inspiration, there were plenty of electrical wires for him to get at and if he could get his brain to work he could couple it up with the arc reactor to make a decent offensive weapon. That's when he noticed a very quiet beeping sound coming from the speaker behind his head. At first, he thought it was his ears ringing but he started to realize that the pattern bore a strong sense of familiarity. His brain struggled under the weight of the pain but he knew that sound, Morse code, Jarvis! Jarvis was talking to him in Morse code.

'Sir, I can see what you see. I can communicate with the Avengers on your behalf.'

Tony looked to the ceiling and sighed in gratitude, mouthing a silent thank you. Knowing his AI had his back gave him a little more strength to continue with. He started tapping back instructions on the floor, it was stuttered as his brain kept forgetting whilst the world came in and out of focus, but thankfully Jarvis understood him and this 'CAEB' or whatever it called itself, was too preoccupied by its little chat with Bruce and Natasha to notice.

'I have called the other Avengers they are on their way.'

Tony put his thumbs up and sagged back into the corner of the lift trying hard to stay conscious while he began finalizing his plans and the pain continued to build relentlessly.

99.99%. Steve and Clint burst into the room, completely unaware of what was happening. They screeched to a standstill when they saw Tony being faced off by Bruce and Natasha. Everyone's body language was off, they were on edge ready for a fight but why? What had Tony done? Steve was praying that this was just a case of Tony putting his foot somewhere it really shouldn't have been but then they noticed he was glowing blue.

"What the fuck?" Clint hissed and stepped back a little.

"What is going on?" Steve managed to come out with a more useful question.

"No time to explain, but I think it's going to become clear very soon." Bruce nodded in the direction of the screen as Pepper peered gingerly around the corner of the stairwell door.

 **100%**

All hell broke loose.

….

Suddenly there were alarm bells ringing in Asgard. The whole city was buzzing with armoured warriors. Nearly the whole legion was ready for battle and Thor could only guess that the CAEB had been located. He stayed out of the way as his Father flew past him, followed closely by an advanced party of 30 of the best Asgardian warriors.

Suddenly Sif and the warriors three were by his side demanding answers from their Prince and friend, but Thor had none for them. They were furious. As Asgard's best warriors they should have been the first to be called on a mission of such obvious importance, Thor felt their annoyance but knew it was because they were too likely to betray information to him which Odin couldn't risk. There was a deep knot of worry in his stomach, he hoped that Midgard would be safe from this monster and that his father would succeed in its capture before it could claim too many Midgardian lives. Odin had the tesseract in hand, without it, it would have taken them centuries to summon enough dark energy to take so many so far away across the nine realms. For all the damage it had caused so recently on Earth it would now be its savior, but that was only if all went well.

….

The blue glow burst into life and the false Tony disappeared revealing the real Tony's nearly lifeless form on the lift floor.

"Tony!" Bruce ran forward to his friend's aid but the CAEB materialized in front of him in. It was of human shape, glowing blue yet lacked substance. It was translucent and flickering so Bruce made a decision to try and run it down while it still seemed to be weak and gathering strength. The CAEB sent Bruce flying across the room with a simple flick of its hand, he smashed into the wall and the other guy was instantly roaring in anger.

The Avengers burst into action but nothing could touch it.  
Clint's arrows melted into thin air in front of it, Steve's flung his Shield and it simply passed straight through it before embedding itself in the wall.  
Seeing the chaos Natasha began to slow in her attack, realising it was bad idea, but she was too late and she was thrown violently into the glass. Her head whipped back hard and she slumped instantly, laying still on the carpet as blood pooled on the floor around her head. Steve didn't realize in time to be able to stop Clint charging in rage at the CAEB and his stomach lurched when the sound of Clint's blood curdling scream rang through the communal floor as bones crunched and Clint crumpled still conscious to the floor.

The Hulk was swinging punch after punch at the figure, which was becoming slowly more solid. The heavy thud of the impact was causing the windows to shake and reverberate, threatening to shatter. The other guy was throwing everything he could to destroying this enemy, but the CAEB simply watched on in amusement as not a single one caused any damage. The Hulk paused and roared loudly, whilst the CAEB laughed back in its face before swinging a punch of its own, Steve watched in horror as the Hulk too crumpled and fell back to the floor. The Hulk was down, lying unconscious with a gash across its forehead. Steve knew he was out of options and he desperately looked around the room for something better to fight with. He noticed Pepper trying to sneak behind the CAEB trying desperately to get to Tony who seemed to be tapping something on the floor. Steve made eye contact with Pepper pleading with her to run, but then his own world was suddenly snatched into darkness.

Tony was trying hard to work faster, but his brain was running hopelessly slow. He could only watch in horror as his team fell one by one and the CAEB gained substance and strength. It had knocked out the Hulk and he was going to try and fight it with a bit of electricity! It was the only hope he had and he had the advantage of having spent weeks analyzing the CAEB's energy, he knew it like the back of his hand and that meant being the genius he was, he knew the best way of disrupting it. Would it kill it, maim it or just give it a headache he didn't know, but he had Jarvis draining power from the whole city and feeding it into the lift cables so he could achieve the perfect current-voltage ratio. Of course, he knew if he had got this wrong he would be giving the most dangerous creature he had ever seen a massive amount of power, but he wouldn't be around to worry about that. This was his one shot.

Tony had been too busy straining to dig the cables out of the lift wall to notice that his whole team was now down. Though the Hulk was stirring and beginning to regain its feet.

"Your friends had spirit Stark, as do you to hold me for so long. You have not long for this world but I will leave you with a parting gift."

The CAEB disappeared and reappeared with its fist clamped around Pepper's neck. Her feet dangled and thrashed in mid-air, her eyes wide with terror and pain as she fought hard to draw breath.

"You can watch her die for imprisoning me for so long, I have been inside your mind, seen all your darkest moments, everything which you wish others not to see and I know what you fear most in all the world, is this."

Something stirred in Tony, something deep inside and suddenly the pain was gone. His strength returned in one last act of defiance and he felt powerful. He had a thousand witty things to say at this moment, but his actions spoke louder. He tore the cable out of the walls with a cry of pain, sparks spat angrily from its end as he stood and ran towards the CAEB. It looked at him amuse. What could a half dead human do to it, one of the most powerful entities in the universe?

Tony stood for an instant, face to face with his enemy, before thrusting the cable through its back. The CAEB made itself un-solid, but that's exactly what Tony had wanted. The cable went straight through it and into Tony's own chest, directly into the arc reactor.

...

The Hulk came around angrier than it had ever been. Blue man hurt his friends, blue man hurt Hulk, Hulk crush Blue man! But Hulk's head hurt, he staggered to his feet, he felt… weak. Which only made his rage burn brighter. Hulk never weak!

Blue man hurting Pepper! What tin man doing? Tin man hurt, tin man should let Hulk kill blue man.

When Tony thrust the cable through 'blue man' and into his own chest, however, the Hulks plan changed quite suddenly.

The Hulk was still unsteady on its feet and could only watch as Tony screamed in agony at the impossible current running through him. But even more impossibly, the CAEB was screaming too. It was an unearthly noise that sent a chill through the room and as suddenly as he had appeared the CAEB was gone. The blue form seemed to be sucked into Tony who stood and staggered as the room fell into silence. The cable fell to the floor, slipping from Tony's grip. His shirt was ripped and his chest badly burnt which left the smell of singed flesh hanging heavily in the air. The arc reactor held firm, but Tony's legs did not. He crumpled to the floor. His back arched violently in pain and his arms seemed to spasm sporadically. Choked grunts escaped Tony's mouth and his chest rose and fell at a rapid rate.

Tin man need puny Doctor, so Hulk sleep now.

Bruce was back. He made a quick check of the others in the room. Steve were stirring and so miraculously was Natasha, Clint was writhing in agony and in serious need of medical attention, Pepper was clutching her throat but was already at Tony's side, Tony himself was fitting, convulsing on the floor somehow still alive and semi-conscious. There was nothing he could do for Tony right now, not until he stopped fitting, though the pain and confusion in his eyes wanted to make him run to him.

"Pepper, don't hold him down, talk to him, try keep him calm." Pepper was panicking and Bruce knew she needed something to do.

"Bruce?" Steve had come around and was looking around the room clutching his chest in discomfort. "What can I do?"

Bruce was already leaning over Clint, his shoulder was dislocated and his arm was broken, maybe in more than one place. "Ermm… Steve help Pepper, just keep talking to him, hold his head and get him a pillow. Jarvis, can you scan Clint."

"I'm ok Bruce, go to Tony." Clint was not ok, the pained expression on his face and the way he had to try so hard to force out the words was more than enough evidence of that.

"Dislocated shoulder, 2 fractures of the humerus and one each of both the radius and the ulna."

"Thank you, Jarvis. Get medical up here now."

"They are on their way." Trust Jarvis to be one step ahead.

"Is Natasha ok?"

"Clint just be quiet for me ok."

"No, I need to know…. ARGHHH!" Everyone turned to look as Clint screamed when Bruce popped his shoulder back into place. "Seriously Bruce give a guy some warning!"

"Is Clint being a baby again?" Natasha groaned and gently sat herself up, her face covered in her own blood. Bruce swore internally, Natasha shouldn't be moving right now, he needed more hands.

"Shut up Tash!" Clint wasn't in the mood for more jokes at his expense, that had really bloody hurt and the pain wasn't going away any time soon.

"Where's the CAEB?" Natasha's question made Clint wonder why the hell he hadn't thought of that and how the hell someone who could well have sustained brain damage and certainly a concussion had.

Bruce bit his lip, Tony's fit was clearly subsiding now and Bruce knew what the Hulk had seen. It had gone back into Tony, but what did that mean after being bombarded by the electrical cable and the arc reactor? Tony groaned and twitched as Pepper shushed him gently, running her shaking fingers along his cheek as Steve gently cradled his head. He was so grey and so thin. Bruce had been expecting it, so had Natasha, but the others had been in the dark and even to those in the know it was shocking. His clothes hung loosely from his now slender frame, every bone in his body was protruding, but had not gone so far as to eat into his muscle. The biggest change could be seen in his face. It was almost skeletal, his eyes were sunken, cheekbones pronounced and the greyness of his sweat glazed skin was astounding. It made Bruce want to be sick. Tony's eyelids began to flutter as his consciousness returned.

It was left to Bruce to respond to Natasha's question.

"I guess we're about to find out."

…...

When Tony felt consciousness returning the pain was still there, but it was different this time. What had happened? He'd sworn he'd just done something tantamount to suicide and the CAEB... if he didn't feel like he was completely fried he'd have said he'd seen it kind of… go back into him. But it felt different than it had before, he no longer had the feeling that there was something inside him trying to get out, he felt like…. Well he felt like him, but something more.

He realized his eyes had been open for a good minute now while he tried to process what had happened and there was a tension in the room with all eyes fixed on him.

"Tony?" Bruce was the first to speak, there were still a lot of people in the room who had far more questions than answers but there would be time for that later.

"What the hell happened? Bruce how am I alive?" Tony resisted the urge to groan but blinked several times at the sharpness of the light in an attempt to nurse his immense headache.

"Jarvis who are we talking to here?" Bruce was sensibly wary after their battle with the CAEB.

"Sir, appears to be in control."

"What, what do you mean? It's Tony, you are talking to Tony!" Pepper was on the verge of tears and converting her confusion into anger.

"Pepper, please it's ok we'll explain everything later, I promise. Jarvis, I need more than 'appears to be', can you confirm."

"Bruce honestly I know it went back in me but something feels different."

"Ok Tony it's not that I don't trust you it's just that…"

"You don't trust me that's fine, I'd rather you be sure."

Natasha smiled, she was fairly sure this was Tony, all the signs were there. He was clearly trying to hide how much pain he was in and the way he was looking at the distraught Pepper, desperately trying to comfort her with his eyes alone, it was definitely Tony. She couldn't imagine what he had been through since he'd found out about the CAEB, having no way of showing them what a state he was really in and the fear of not knowing, that was what was always the worst.

"Dr. Banner I've have finished scanning Mr. Stark, if you could please turn your attention to the screen to your right." Bruce did as was asked, still trying to splint Clint's arm with the remains of his tattered shirt and parts of the broken coffee table, he couldn't remember how it had been broken, he'd probably landed on it, but he was quite glad of it at this moment not wanting to leave the room with everything that was going on.

Tony's eyes, curious as ever, especially since it concerned himself, quickly scanned the screen. "Well Holy shit!"  
Bruce glanced briefly at Tony and took a few more seconds to come to the same conclusion. "Well that is not what I was expecting."

"Guy's come on, we're not all scientists." Natasha groaned and gave them an expectant, if not a little unfocused, stare.

"Well its kinda hard to explain in English but…" Tony paused struggling for words and Bruce finished for him.

"The CAEB has merged with Tony."

"Isn't that what has happened before?" It took a moment for Natasha to process what had just been said and she wasn't sure she really understood. Clint, Pepper and Steve just shrugged at each other with no way of following the conversation.

"No, before they were sharing the same body, now Tony and the CAEB are the same person, their nervous systems appear to have integrated."

"How?" Natasha asked

"No clue." Bruce shrugged, Clint just looking between the two dumfounded.

"Please don't say this means I'm going to end up going all evil."

"I don't think so Tony, by the looks of the readings I think you are in complete control."

"Think?"

"Well let's try it shall we. Break that glass." Tony looked at Bruce in confusion of his abruptness. It was usually Tony or Clint saying random stupid things like that, not Bruce, he was supposed to be sensible.

"No chance, I'm not replacing that again!"

"Ok, ok well what about that vase." Bruce said, pointing one out at the other side of the room.

"And how am I supposed to do that? Just wave my hand and…. Holy shit!" Tony's eyes glowed blue and the vase was well and truly obliterated. A stabbing pain shot through Tony's head causing him to clutch it with both hands. The team were too busy gazing at the vase opened mouthed to notice Tony's pain.

"Well something like that I'd expect." Steve had let go of Tony's head and helped him up to his feet on request, refusing to let go of the Engineers arm as he was certainly not stable. "Welcome to the superhuman club Stark, but can someone please explain what on Earth this is all about?"

Tony gave a sarcastic chuckle in response, not entirely sure whether he like his new situation or not. Steve wasn't either. After watching this CAEB, that supposedly now was part of Tony, take down his team like skittles, he didn't like the way they all seemed to have accepted that this was ok. Nor did he like the fact they were provoking whatever was inside him by getting Tony to test his new powers before they even knew what they were dealing with.

"Try something else." Clint had seemed to forget his own pain with the entertainment going on and cut off any hope Steve had of gaining an explanation. "Blast a hole in that wall."

"Clint." Natasha furrowed her brow, but was equally curious to see what Tony could do. Steve was about to raise a protest but he caught Natasha's gaze. Her eyes said they needed to trust him, he would oblige for now.

Tony nodded slowly and concentrated on the wall. How had he done it before? He'd imagined the vase smashing, so he drew up the image of the wall in his mind and then imagined it buckling forwards. The wall obeyed his glowing blue eyes in an instant, a cloud of dust and rubble burst into the room leaving everyone coughing.

"I said blast a hole in it Tony, not bring the thing down on top of us." Clint was expecting a witty retort but nothing came. "That wasn't structural, was it?" Steve felt Tony shaking in his arms but couldn't quite see him through the dust cloud.

"Tony are you ok?" There was no answer. The dust cleared slowly and there was a heavy stream of blood flowing down Tony's face originating from his nose. His eyes were glazed over from the effort and it was only a few more seconds before he crumpled without warning.

"Shit." Steve was quick to react and catch the genius' limp form and lower him gently to the floor.

"Tony!" Pepper instantly had a finger on his pulse though she wasn't sure exactly what she was doing.

"I would suggest you cease from requesting Sir make further demonstrations. The actions seem to take a large amount of energy and his body is already dangerously weak from containing the CAEB these past weeks."

"Point taken Jarvis, I'm sorry." Clint shuffled slightly on the floor to see if Tony was ok, but regretted it as pain shot through his arm. "What did you give me Bruce cos the pain isn't too bad now?"

"Nothing Clint, you're probably well pumped on adrenaline. Where the hell are the medics they should be here by now?"

"It's ok Bruce, me and Tash will help you get Tony to his room and then…"

"No way, you were both injured and need checking over, we can wait, no one's in dire jeopardy here."

The sound of heavy footsteps could now be heard in the near distance. "Great! Perfect timing."  
Natasha was scrutinizing the sound of the footsteps, they were remarkably in time and seemed to be resonating through the floor of the building. A hazy set of figures could be seen from behind the destroyed wall, they were arranged in straight lines and were carrying long objects that looked far too much like weapons.

"Bruce, I don't think those are medics."

Before anyone could react, the soldiers had encircled them, dressed in bright golden armour and pointing long sharp staffs in their faces. The Avengers held up their hands but Steve and Pepper kept a firm, protective grip of Tony.

The battle dress had a distinct Asgardian feel to it, and as the circle parted at the far end allowing a lone figure to come into view everyone was half expecting to see Thor. They were disappointed.

"I am Odin, King of Asgard."

"You're Thor's Dad." Clint never really knew when to keep his mouth shut.

"Yes." Odin answered simply. "I have heard much about you Avengers from my Son, how you have shown great courage and skill in battle and it is a pleasure to meet you. However, you will give up the CAEB."

"I mean no disrespect Sir but you're not taking him." Steve, however uncertain he was about the current situation was not going to abandon one of his own. He knew Odin was Thor's dad, but there was something about him he just didn't trust.

"That was not a request mortal. You could not possibly hope to understand the destruction the CAEB could bring to the nine realms and far beyond. I am sorry it should have taken the life of your friend but what you see before you is no longer the man you knew."

"We know that Odin, but please hear me out something happened, something changed and it isn't evil any more Tony is in cont…."

"Silence." Odin waved his hand and the guards advanced taking hold of Tony roughly. "Do not resist Mortal, I did not come here to harm you but if you defy me I will not hesitate to kill you all."

Steve for one was not going to give up without a fight, but from nowhere more warriors appeared and pinned each of the team down securely. Steve writhed under the grip, Pepper was crying out for Tony and he was torn away from her grip. Clint couldn't move without the weight of three Asgardian warrior's pinning him to the floor, so there was no way he was able to help, thankfully his restraining warriors were being considerate of his injured arm. Bruce was seriously close to hulking out. Natasha hated feeling so helpless, they all did. She didn't struggle as she knew it was futile but she was desperate to escape and kick some ass right now.

There was nothing any of the team could do as something was thrust into Tony's neck, it looked like a super hyped up version of a syringe and he was dragged away from them.

As quickly as they had appeared the Asgardians had gone. Tony was gone and nobody had a clue what to do.

 _..._

 ** _I know, I know another cliff hanger! I'm sorry but I really can't help myself. Hope you are enjoying! Some Asgard, Thor and Loki to come as well as a seriously worried set of Avengers and plenty of Tony whump! I'm moving into Uni soon so a pre-warning that my next update will probably be a little delayed but fear not I won't disappear just yet!_**


	12. Chapter 12- Burn

**Just realised how little Steve has been in this story so think it's about time we had something from his perspective. And another thank you needed to my second reviewer! Thank you KeeperOfTheKreed! Can't tell you how much it means to have so many followers/faves in this story. Hopefully this chapter will be a good and long one to make up for the time its taking me to write them now I've started Uni.**

previously

Tony comes back through the wormhole with an unknown _energy signature draining the life out of him. After getting progressively worse physically and nightmares resulting in smashed glass, citywide blackouts and even an Earthquake, Bruce and Natasha are clued in to what's going on._

 _On Asgard, there is a mad rush to locate an ancient being that escaped their prison by killing its host. Thor finds out what he can, but is largely kept in the dark by Odin._

 _With less than 24 hours till the energy signature attaches to 100% of Tony's cells they sedate him so he can sleep through the night._

 _He awakes in agony to find the process has accelerated and the energy has managed to separate from him, appearing as a replica of himself. As the countdown approaches 100% Tony crawls his way to the penthouse, weak and in immense pain. The energy reaches 100% and the CAEB is released. It takes out the avengers but with help from Jarvis and the arc reactor, Tony electrocutes the both of them and the CAEB merges with his own nervous system._

 _Clint is keen to see Tony's new powers when he awakes, however the effort causes him to collapse and suddenly Asgardian soldiers burst in and Odin takes Tony away._

 **Chapter 12- Burn**

Steve ached all over, but he didn't stop. His feet just kept pounding on the ground, the steady rhythm he hoped would give him peace for once could not drown out the noise of his racing thoughts. He'd got his answers from Bruce and Natasha and he didn't like them. Tony could have killed them all, well not Tony but… the fact was it should never have happened. They were supposed to be a team and vital information had been kept secret within that 'team' which by omission had nearly got them all killed. Hell, if it had gone another way who knows how many people could have died at the hand of this 'CAEB'. And then suddenly Tony was in control of it, but Steve didn't know whether he bought that or not. Seriously, after weeks of trying to find answers suddenly everything was alright? He wanted to trust Tony, but even if he was in control was that really such a good thing. The power he had in his hands was terrifying and no one could deny that Tony's hands weren't always the safest or the wisest.

Yet that wasn't even his problem at the moment. His problem was that Tony had been gone for three months and now people had started to ask questions. They had searched, they had racked their brains, they had prayed that Thor would come and explain something, but there was nothing. Steve hated to say it but there was very little hope of finding him and that burnt. They'd just sat there and let him get taken. He didn't even what to think about what Odin was doing to him on Asgard, assuming that's where they'd even taken him. One way or another this was on him. Tony could be dead for all they knew, but then again that might be better than the alternative and that's what really scared him, that's why he hadn't slept through the night since it had happened.

"Steve please, you need to stop."

Somehow Natasha was at his side, jogging with him. But he was running flat out, that wasn't possible, she couldn't be there. He looked down at his feet and suddenly realized how much they hurt, how tired he was and suddenly he could take another step.

Natasha watched Steve grow steadily slower and slower as exhaustion finally caught up with him. He'd been running for 6hours straight and he'd started at a sprint. It was as obvious as the nose on her face that Steve blamed himself, the whole team were in one way or another and it frankly sucked. When Steve slowed enough that she could keep up with him she joined him, pleading with him to stop, it took a long time before he finally snapped out of it and noticed her, then very quickly he was dropping to his knees. She let him rest on her, feeling his heavy breaths and shaking muscles against her torso. This was an absolute mess. She strained a little under Steve's dead weight as she reached into her back pocket and grabbed her phone, hitting speed dial. Clint picked up.

"Tash, what's up?"

"Clint, drag Banner out of that lab whatever it takes and get your ass to the park ASAP, bring the car."

At the other end of the phone Clint just nodded and Natasha quickly hung up.

…

Loki tried to block out the screams, but they resonated through him. The other prisoners couldn't hear them, but they were just halfwits, Loki had magic flowing through his veins and whatever Odin was doing to the thing in his basement was sending shockwaves. It was not often that Loki cursed his gifts but despite his flaws he didn't wish to hear anything in that sort of pain and it was bringing back some bad memories of his own. He had heard screams like that once before as a child, voices in the night that no one else could hear. Well his mother… Frigga had and after that they just stopped, he never heard them again. Yet they had etched themselves so perfectly into his memories and this time he was certain that what he was sensing was different.

The power he was sensing was like nothing he'd ever comprehended yet alone experienced. Loki knew Odin thought he knew what he was doing, he had to admit in the past his methods had been effective but there was something going on here that neither of them understood and that Odin in his blindness was failing to recognize. Why was he even debating this in his head, the fate of Asgard or of Odin was of no concern to him, yet something inside him refused to let go of that feeling of needing to act. A grave injustice was being carried out, of that he was certain.

Loki buried his head back into the book he was reading, trying to block out the sounds or at the very least ignore them. They never lasted long, 20minutes at the most and of late it had been getting shorter and shorter. The prisoner was no longer so resilient he guessed, how fragile humans were yet how strong this one had proved to be before. But the screams kept coming, every day at the same time like clockwork. He hoped for both their sakes that Odin would overestimate the load the prisoner's body could bare and he would never wake up, that way he could hope to save his sanity and the other would finally be put to rest.

…

Pepper had been sinking for a long time, but finally she could feel herself being pulled under. Her job was hard on a day to day basis, on the really bad days it was too much for one person to cope with but the one thing she had always been able to rely on was that she had never been alone. But these past three months had been worse than the worst day she'd ever had as CEO thus far. Tony was gone and they couldn't let anyone find out about it. Who knew what SHIELD would do if they did, the company would certainly go under and keeping up the pretense that Tony was fine and well when he hadn't been seen in public since the battle of Manhattan, not knowing if he was dead or alive, it was all just crushing her. Since that day she hadn't stopped to think. Bruce and Natasha had explained what they knew, she'd sat in medical for a few hours with the others while they got patched up and then she had gone to work. She hadn't stopped since. In one way she was glad to be so busy, it kept her mind away from the dark thoughts of what could be happening to him, the worry that never left her and the loneliness she felt inside. The work had been effective at first, but now she was so exhausted with it all that nothing could hold back the wave of emotion that was threatening to drown her should it reach shore.

A young intern knocked gingerly of her office door and she smiled her usual smile to signal for him to come in.

"I'm sorry to bother you Miss Potts but the head of R&D asked me to ask you if… when er…" Pepper smiled again at the intern's stutters, her eyes sang kindness and understanding which seemed to drain away the intern's nervousness and allowed him to continue with more confidence.

"R&D want to know when Mr. Stark will have finished the Stark phone upgrades, the new product is due on sale in 3 weeks."

"Tell them I'll add it to the list of things I need to kick him about. God knows why he's spending so much time in that lab recently and not getting anything done but he was babbling about a new project which could change the world."

The intern smiled, his admiration of Stark was clear. There had been rumors that Tony was working on something big and he could only imagine what ingenious new technology was being developed above him in Stark's workshop. The smile didn't leave his face as he thanked Pepper and left the room.

Pepper was getting sick of spinning this big lie. Tony was working on something huge, no one had seen him because he hadn't come out of the lab. Bla, bla, bla….. And how she wished the lies were true. She was ready to break down into tears as thoughts and memories of Tony raced through her head when her phone started buzzing.

"Hi Natasha, what can I do for you?"

"Meet us down in the penthouse in 20mins, we all need a serious talk."

"Has something happened?"

"Yeah, Tony got kidnapped by Odin and everyone is falling apart. I've just picked Steve up after running himself half to death and don't think I can't hear the fact you're trying to hold back the tears."

"Ok, Natasha I'll be there."

…..

Rhodey stepped off the plane and just sat in the driver's seat of the car that was waiting for him on the runway. It was happening again. He'd let them take Tony again, but this time he didn't even know how to start looking for him. The number of days had passed as well, the number of days it took them to find him last time. He couldn't bear to think about what was happening to him. The last time they had found him, he had turned a corner, he had decided to do something good with his life again and that was great but there was just another part of him that had broken. Rhodey had seen Tony break far too many times, enough times to make him lose hope that he could be fixed and he wondered how much there was left to break before he just stopped working all together.

Then there was this CAEB thing. Tony had just been through a battle, learnt that there was something inside him that could kill the whole planet, then, and only after it nearly killed him and all of his friends, he gains some sort of control over this incredible power. Tony must be terrified, terrified and confused and… probably in absolute agony. From what he had heard about the way he was taken, about Odin, well there was no point kidding themselves that Tony was on some sort of holiday with Thor and his warrior buddies. It had been too long, he wanted more than anything to see Tony again, be there when he finally returned home and hold him just like he had the last time but he couldn't bear to see Tony break again.

Everyone thought that Tony had the perfect life, spoilt, rich, with everything he had ever wanted. Yes, they all knew Afghanistan had been a blip, but the truth was he didn't envy anything about Tony's life. It had been nothing short of hell. Tony had suffered his whole life, and he didn't want his friend to suffer anymore. He'd rather Tony be dead than alive and in any more pain, it killed him to even think that, but Tony deserved some peace, he deserved to be at rest and certainly not have to keep living through whatever hell life would care to bring his way next.

Rhodey picked his head up from where it had been resting on the steering wheel and slid the keys into the ignition. It was so strange how that just a few months ago he had so much hope for Tony again, that maybe his life was going somewhere where maybe, just maybe he could be really happy. Then all this had happened and bang went the hope. That had been the theme of Tony's life. One bad thing after the other, with everyone telling him that it would get better and that it would be alright, then the moment Tony started to believe them it all South. It was the hope that could be so cruel, if you never hoped you'd never hurt went things went wrong and maybe that's why Tony had stopped hoping and stopped caring so long ago, it made more sense to think of it that way and made Rhodey feel so bad for punishing him about it for so long.

He didn't let his mind wander further, they'd called him in again and he felt that this was more than their monthly 'find Tony' meeting, none the less if he didn't get a move on he was going to be late and although it wasn't that big of a deal, if there was one thing about normal life that still mattered to him it was punctuality.

…

It was Dark. He didn't know where he was only that it hurt. Ice bit into the bare skin of his chest and bones where they pressed into the damp floor. There was no light, nothing to see, not a shadow nor a silhouette and then there were the sounds. He couldn't hear anything, but it wasn't silent, there was just this constant buzzing and the occasional blurred noises which he supposed could be words, but he couldn't tell, he didn't really care anymore. He just wanted it all to stop. The numbness of his mind, the burning pain that ripped through his veins, he was so weak it took all his strength to take a breath. He couldn't move anything, and he couldn't even try. In his life he had, had his fair share of pain, he liked to think he'd dealt with it well, but this time he'd had enough, he couldn't take it anymore. He didn't want to have to take it anymore. It was a never-ending cycle of misery, the fog that sat so heavily in his mind would lift slightly, the burning would subside just that little bit to make it bearable but it would come back all too quickly and he would be sucked into darkness. He had no idea how long he'd been in this pit, it felt like days, but he knew he was missing something, probably a lot. All he knew is that the pain wasn't going to stop. Not unless the Avengers found him. They would be looking, but right now he didn't want saving, he just wanted an end.

…

Thor leant over the balcony with a smile on his face. A good meeting with his friends never could fail to make him pleased and he had no reason not to smile lately. Everything had just been so simple and pleasant of late, there had been battles to fight of course… the nine realms was still in chaos, but it was slowly settling and he could see an end nearing and that end meant a return to earth and seeing Jane again. He had a promise to honour of course.

Thor felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and he turned to see a familiar face.

"Heimdall, it is good to see you." Thor's face was full of joy to see his friend but the expression was not echoed on Heimdall's face which quickly saw Thor's expression change to one of concern. "What troubles you Heimdall."

"The CAEB my liege." Thor heart skipped a beat. He had almost forgotten the whole incident with the CAEB being on earth. His father had gone and returned with a prisoner and the whole matter had simply vanished, the threat was over, or so he had thought.

"What has it escaped?"

"No, my liege, I feel that…" Heimdall's hesitation was uncharacteristic, he knew Heimdall was loyal to a fault, but loyal to Asgard and the nine realms above all else. He would always betray his king if he felt it would serve the greater good.

"Heimdall, you can trust me, I know and respect your loyalty and I will keep whatever is to transpire between the two of us."

Heimdall nodded slowly "I feel that your father has made a mistake."

"With regards to the CAEB? How?"

"That is the problem my Prince, I'm not so sure this is the CAEB as we know it. It certainly was the CAEB when it was reborn on Earth but there are certain discrepancies."

"Heimdall I am struggling to follow."

"I am sorry my liege it is difficult to explain. I feel the energy of this being, from the vaults where it is being held captive, just as I felt that of the previous CAEB before it died and was reborn on Earth. I have never felt two energies that were so similar yet so different simultaneously. Usually I would not have given this as second thought considering one was Kree and the other human, but… There is the prophecy."

"Prophecy?"

"Yes, I know very little of it but it has been foretold that the CAEB will bring destruction to the lives of many but one day, should it truly merge with its host, it can be controlled and this host is the only thing standing between the Universe and its destruction."

Thor pondered this. Heimdall was hesitant, he wasn't sure but Thor knew better than to doubt his instincts, Heimdall's experience was vast and if there was any cause for doubt it needed to be fully explored, especially when the potential fate of the Universe was concerned.

An alarm blared across the city and both Thor and Heimdall's attention was instantly refocused, all questions forgotten. Heimdall used his sight to find out what was happening.

"A fight between the prisoners in the cells."

"Have any escaped?"

"Yes."

Thor was already moving, Heimdall by his side. Without the bifrost there was very little for him to do, so any chance he could get to be busy he grasped with both hands.

…..

Everyone was assembled in the penthouse of Stark tower, but there was still that one empty seat. Natasha paced nervously waiting for everyone to settle. She was perfectly capable of leading in any situation, but in this situation, it didn't feel right. Of the teams two usual leaders one was gone and the other one broken, the whole team was in pieces and she was always the one who ended up putting them back together.

"Look Guys, there is not one single piece of this situation that doesn't suck. We're all still recovering from New York then this CAEB stuff comes down on us like a ton of bricks. They took Tony and every single one of you in this room is blaming yourself for that in one way or another. Guys, it is not our fault! Steve, yes you're the leader of this little gang, you feel responsible for all of us but we are responsible for ourselves too, you do not have to carry everything that happens on your shoulders, we are a team, we share this responsibility. We were all outmatched, maybe we could have put up more of a fight but it would have ended the same way, only with us all seriously injured or dead."

She paused for a moment, looking at Steve especially to see if her words had hit home. She was pleased to see they had, had an effect, it would take a lot more convincing for Steve to let go of his guilt, but she could see that Captain America was starting to reappear from the semi broken shell that had sat in his place just a few minutes ago.

"Bruce, you feel responsible for finding him but I think, guys, that we have to accept at this point that Tony is not just going to teleport back in tomorrow and even if we found him we have no way of getting to him."

"Tash what are you saying?" Clint looked up at her with almost puppy dog eyes, dreading what was going to come next.

"Let me finish…"

"It's ok Clint, Natasha's right." Steve got up slowly and stood with Natasha in the centre of the room.

"Unless we can somehow get in touch with Thor, we have no way of finding out what's happening to Tony or to get him back." Steve quickly raised a hand to stop the oncoming objections. "On top of not knowing where he is, we also don't know if he's dead or alive. Guys I am not saying that we stop looking for him, I am the last person to give up on a teammate... A friend. What I am saying is we have to accept that there is going to come a point when we are going to have to move on."

"Yes," Natasha cut back in seeing that Steve was about to start struggling for words. "Our next job is to try and get in touch with Jane Foster or Eric Selvig, they know Thor better than all of us and maybe have some way of contacting him. If we can't contact Thor we are at a dead end. We can't keep SHIELD off our tails for much longer, and the weight of keeping the press and the company under the illusion that Tony's just fine is going to kill Pepper if she tries to keeps this up." Pepper sighed in acknowledgment and defeat, she knew it was true, she was trying her best but she couldn't keep it up much longer.

"Clearly the public can't ever know the full truth, but SHIELD is going to find out sooner or later. I'm going to put a deadline on this. We give it three more months and if we don't have any leads then we stop and accept there's nothing we can do. If a new lead comes up, fine but three months and its case closed. There are other people that need our help and that rely on us. I feel as bad about the possibility of abandoning Tony as all of you, but the fact is we have a responsibility to this planet as much as we do to him and there is only so much we can handle. There is a time to fight and there is a time to accept and move on, and however much we hate it we are getting to the time where we need to hang up the gloves."

The room was silent for a long while. Everyone knew what Natasha was saying was true, but that didn't mean they had to like it, in fact they absolutely despised it. But that didn't change the fact that it was the best night's sleep they'd all had in months and they woke up the next morning feeling like a massive weight had been lifted.

…..

There was chaos ensuing outside Loki's cell, it was beyond frustrating. Far too many guards had arrived to cull the fight in the cell opposite him and as a result they had just made matters worse. How stupid Asgardian soldiers were. The result was that the idiots had lowered the barrier so they could get in to stop the fight and the only slightly less stupid inmates had outwitted them and escaped into the corridor and into the arms of a dozen other guards. Inevitably the alarms had started blaring and any hope Loki had of having a peaceful afternoons reading had gone up in smoke.

Loki growled in annoyance and lay on his back with his forearm resting across his eyes. A few months ago, he would have found great amusement in this predicament, he would have sat and watched it unfold as if were a performance, well what other forms of entertainment was he likely to find from a prison cell? But things were different now. He was tired and drained; the screams had stopped him from sleeping and now he could almost feel this creature's constant pain. He assumed it was reaching out for help, in pure desperation, Odin would not realise until it was too late but the human below him was fast approaching its limits. He could feel it's desperation, it's intense wanting to die, Loki had never felt a connection like it, and it didn't even know that it was reaching out to him. But Loki, and not for want of trying, couldn't sever the connection and bring himself some peace.

He felt himself sympathising with it, he knew what pain was like, he knew too well what it was to pray for death and he hoped it would come soon for the creature below. He could almost see into its soul, he knew about the CAEB, but whatever was suffering in Odin's basement wasn't the evil that the CAEB was supposed to be and that could only mean one thing. Loki hadn't wasted his time in his cell, he had used to expand his knowledge on everything, especially on the CAEB. He probably knew more than anyone in Asgard, and if he understood correctly, the prophecy was coming true. The Universe was in grave danger and there was only one person that could stop it. It was strange that it should be a human, but if there's one thing Loki knew was that Tony Stark was no ordinary human.

Loki gave up trying to ignore the ensuing racket, he lay back on his bed and squeezed the pillow tight over his face, not even slightly concerned by the resulting lack of air. For a moment he thought that he would finally get some peace, but then the noise broke back through his feeble defense as his ears adjusted to their new environment and the muffled nature of the sound in fact just made it more infuriating.

"Would you miserable excuses of guards get your prisoners under control so I can get some peace!" Loki's magic flared green as the table flew across his cell, shattering on the wall whilst both of his hands remained fixed on the pillow.

Thunder rumbled in the corridor and the familiar sound of Mjolnir's swing followed by grunts and crunching bones made Loki toss his pillow onto the floor press his face against the wall instead. Thor was always the last person he wanted to see, so with the mood he was in on this occasion he simply refused to look at him.

"Would anyone else like to try, or will all just get back in your cells?" Thor would usually have enjoyed this, but he had been dragged away from an important conversation and was not in the best of moods himself. Thankfully no one else tested his patience, thankfully for them that is, not for Thor. Heimdall simply helped the strewn guards to their feet whilst Thor escorted the suddenly compliant uprising back to their cells.

Thor glanced at Loki as they left, seeing him screwed up tightly against the wall, ignoring them completely.

"Is that not a thank you I hear, dear brother? I have restored your peace as you requested."

Loki stayed silent for a moment, in two minds as whether to reply but if the prophecy was true, right now he was the only one who could help it come to pass. Was he about to help that human? No, he was going to help himself sleep and that was all.

"Don't call me your Brother, it is not true nor would I wish it to be after learning how you treat your friends."

"I know not of what you speak Loki, I have always treated you and my friends with great respect, which is far more than you especially deserve." Thor turned to leave, not in the mood for being his Brother's verbal punching bag, but Loki still facing the wall smiled in anticipation.

"Oh, so is that why I hear your ' _friend'_ screaming in Odin's dungeon every night." Thor snapped back instantly and Heimdall had a similar response. Thor was suddenly right up to the barrier of Loki's cell, with a face closely imitating the thunder he controlled.

"What do you mean?" Loki didn't stir or even bother to respond, his smile deepening unnoticed by Thor. "Loki! Tell me what you mean!"

Loki rolled over slowly, a look of complete seriousness now occupying his features. He inspected Thor's face briefly which confirmed what he already had guessed.

"You don't know, do you? What he's got down there… Who he's got down there." Loki chuckled "The CAEB was reborn on your precious Earth, but that you know, you didn't know it had taken one of you little friends, oh how Odin has deceived you."

"Who Loki, who is the CAEB?"

"That is not what matters."

"Of course it is! Tell me, which one of my friends has the CAEB infested?" Thor was close to panicking now, but Heimdall was more interested in Loki's other statement.

"Loki do you refer to the prophecy?"

"Finally, someone who is asking the right questions, though that could always be expected of you Heimdall, with you endless sight." He spat with sarcasm.

"Yet you have deceived me many times before Loki."

"That may be true, but know that in this instance my words are truthful. Whatever ever is beneath is not the CAEB, I know it… I am sure of it. I can feel it reaching out inside my mind, its goodness and its desperation are suffocating. What is beneath our feet is no creature of evil as Odin would have us all believe."

"So, the CAEB has merged with a human?"

"Yes. There is no other way to explain the energy I am feeling day and night. And if you want the prophecy to come true you have to move quickly. The suppressant Odin is using was designed for a superior being and that oaf didn't deem it sensible to lower the dose."

"Don't you dare speak of Father so!"

"He is not my father and I will speak of him as I wish, now leave your emotion to one side and listen Thor, the fate of the Universe depends on you getting the human out of here before it's too late."

"Why? Why should we trust any of your words Loki, you have betrayed us all enough?"

"If the CAEB is as Odin says, then why would I help it? It would destroy Asgard and probably the whole galaxy, which is where I happen to be stuck and I don't particularly feel like dying! If the CAEB is as I say, you realise that I am saving my own skin by helping it and the fact that I am also potentially saving the Universe is irrelevant. I know you would never believe that I would have the best interests of this universe at heart and that I only have room for my own agenda. Whichever way you look at it, it is clear that the only sensible conclusion is to believe that I am telling the truth."

Thor looked deeply into the green of Loki's eyes, searching for any signs of truth or dishonesty, but as usual he could not read his brother, that had never been his talent. He gave up and turned to Heimdall for guidance. Heimdall scrutinised the younger God for some time before coming to his own conclusion and turning to meet Thor's expectant gaze. Heimdall nodded curtly.

"Loki's experience matches mine, my Prince, and the cost of not acting would be too high in this instance. The only question is…" Heimdall turned back to Loki "How long do we have to produce a plan."

Loki pondered for a minute, letting his connection with the CAEB below flow into his mind which nearly made him reel as its pain flooded in. It was not nearly so sharp as before.

"I would say you only have hours, it has been weak since it arrived and now I fear it is giving up fast."

"I'm sorry Heimdall but you are wrong." Thor still glared at his brother with distrust. "That it not the only question there is to ask. The other is who is it that we are to rescue?"

Loki looked into his brother's eyes and resisted smiling, if only to avoid another altercation with Thor.

"Tony Stark."


	13. Chapter 13- Best laid plans

Previously:

 _Tony comes back through the wormhole with an unknown energy signature draining the life out of him. The energy causes chaos giving him nightmare that resulting smashed glass, citywide blackouts and even an Earthquake. Having got progressively worse Tony awakes from being sedated in agony to find the process has accelerated during the night. Face to face with the Avengers, the energy reaches 100% and the CAEB is released. The team stand no chance against the CAEB but with help from Jarvis and the arc reactor, Tony electrocutes the both of them and the CAEB merges with his own nervous system. The relief is short lived when Asgardian soldiers, led by Odin take Tony by force restraining the Avengers and disappear as suddenly as they arrived._

 _Over 3 months later the team is falling apart and there are still no leads on finding Tony. Natasha gathers everyone together and gives them a 3-month ultimate to find Tony or give up and inform SHIELD. They decide to contact Jane Foster and Eric Selvig to aid with the search. Meanwhile on Asgard Thor is approached by Heimdall who believes something is not right with the CAEB and when dealing with a scuffle in the prison, Thor is brought face to face with Loki who tells them of a prophecy that the CAEB when merged with its host may be the only one to save the universe. According to Loki, the human Odin is keeping prisoner is close to its limit and soon to die. Finally, Thor learns who they have be keeping prisoner._

 _"_ _Who is it that we are to rescue?"_

 _Loki looked into his brother's eyes and resisted smiling, if only to avoid another altercation with Thor._

 _"Tony Stark."_

Chapter 13- Best laid plans

"Well, are you going to say something Thor, or just continue to stand there and stare at me?"

Thor did the latter. Man of Iron was the CAEB. He didn't know what to feel. In one way it made sense, Stark had sacrificed himself with great courage in the battle on Earth, the act of which must have coincided with the moment that the CAEB on Asgard had killed itself. It burned him to know what his father would be doing to his comrade, his friend. But was what was down there even still Tony Stark? Was the prophecy true, was Tony in control?

"You have questions." Loki read the troubled look on Thor face during his prolonged silence and slowly got to his feet, edging closer to the barrier.

"Tell me what you know of this prophecy, tell me everything you know Loki."

Loki sighed but obliged his brother.

"The CAEB has existed since the dawn of time and its power was infinite. It could crush a planet with but a flick of its hand, and manipulate time and matter in any way it wished. Legend says it was once its own entity, but was fooled by a trickster and cursed to be trapped inside the body of another. The host was to be the one showing greatest sacrifice at the time of the CAEB's death, in this case this was Stark in his act of stupidity."

"You only say that Loki because that 'act of stupidity 'defeated you and your 'almighty army'."

"How's your stomach Thor? Or have you forgotten how your own stupidity let me twist a knife into it?"

"Please continue Loki, we have very little time." Heimdall stood between the two Gods in attempt to restore some focus to the conversation. Loki sighed and began pacing while he started again.

"The only way it can escape a host is by killing it. The CAEB's power is limited to the strength of its host. Several millennia ago the CAEB gained control of a being with immense strength and caused untold destruction. Since then Asgard tasked itself with capturing and containing the CAEB to protect the universe from its wrath. The CAEB is pure evil, it corrupts its host and bends it completely to its will and its only goal is to control the entire universe. However, when it first inhabits a host it is weak, it takes time to gain control and this is the only time when it can be captured. Your Great Grandfather had his scientists develop a chemical that can suppress the CAEB, but it is incredibly toxic, it would tear through both our veins and kill us in minutes. A strong host with the CAEB inside can withstand it and live a full life, incapacitated in the dungeon below us, but a human… The only thing that is keeping Stark alive is the CAEB and even then, it is failing. He is near death and will not last much longer."

"And what of the prophecy?" Loki rolled his eyes at Thor's constant interruptions.

"I'm getting to that bit." He bit back and then calmed himself before continuing.

"Stark is weak, he is human. When the CAEB inhabited his body it will have drained him completely just to contain it. And he won't have been strong enough to contain it for long. The CAEB will have been strong enough to escape and become its own entity again, which could have been the end of everything we know. If the CAEB had regained its full power there would have been no stopping it."

"So, what has happened instead?"

"That is the part of which I cannot be certain. Somehow Stark must have… re-contained the CAEB within himself, but this time it will have merged with his cells, that's what I can feel. There is no 'CAEB' anymore. Before Tony Stark and the CAEB were separate entities but trapped in the same body. Now, they are the same, they are one. Tony Stark is the CAEB."

"So, does that mean he is in control of it?"

"To an extent."

"What do you mean?"

"As I said I am not certain Thor, The CAEB is no longer controlling him, but I am not aware how much of his new power Stark is able to control."

"Loki, we need more, I need to know what I am facing."

"There is no more Thor, I know all there is to know. This has not happened before, the CAEB has never merged with any being, yet alone a human."

"But what of the prophecy?"

"The prophecy is vague, it merely states that the CAEB will merge with its host and the host will gain control, which it seemingly now has; and that there will be a time where Stark will be the only one who can stop the destruction of the universe."

"Because if Stark dies…"

"The CAEB will die too and it cannot be rebor-…"

"Loki?"

The Pale God had stopped dead mid-sentence and swayed slightly. The colour drained from his face and his lips turned yellow. Without further warning Loki's knees gave way and he tumbled to the floor.

"Loki!" Thor ran forwards to the barrier and was quickly reminded why the prisoners were contained as his body was jolted painfully and thrown back onto the floor.

"My Prince!" Heimdall was quickly by Thor's side as Loki was automatically forgotten. Thor coughed, winded and accepted Heimdall's hand to help him to his feet. Loki too was recovering, sitting up slowly and groaning. What little colour he usually had was returning to his cheeks and he rubbed his temples waiting for the pain to subside.

"Loki what happened?"

"It's Stark, he reaches out unknowingly with his powers. That was the worst I have felt it. Thor, you have to act now, he has but moments before his body fails him."

"Can you tell me how long?"

"At most half an hour."

That was not enough time to formulate a proper plan, Thor's mind raced, he needed to find a way to break Tony out and get him to Earth without the bifrost. The pieces quickly slotted into place and he turned to Heimdall.

"I need you to summon the dark energy and go to Earth immediately, you need to tell the Avengers what we know and that I am bringing Stark home. They need to be prepared for battle, my Father will surely follow with an army when he learns of my treason."

"How will you get to Earth? There will not be enough dark energy for two trips."

"For that I will need a way into the Asgardian vault unnoticed." Thor tuned to Loki who was on the same trail of thought.

"I have a way I can tell you of."

"Good, then I will retrieve the Tesseract and Stark and meet you on Earth." Heimdall left immediately but Thor lingered a while longer.

"Thank you, Loki."

"I did it not for you or Asgard, or even the galaxy, I did it merely because I want to survive."

"Very well, but you have my thanks none the less. Now how do I get into the vault?"

Loki smiled.

…

Clint had been stirring the cup of coffee on the worktop for some time now, just enjoying the way it swirled around the inside of his mug. It was a calming motion and the only relief he had, had from the constant tension that was so thick in the tower you could cut it with a knife. The few days after their little talk had been the calmest in a long time but with Eric and Jane now working downstairs trying to find a way to contact Thor the stress dial had been turned to eleven. They'd had to smuggle the two scientists into the tower to avoid raising SHIELD's suspicions any higher, if it hadn't been for the two superspies on the team they would have been found out a long time ago. Jane and Eric had been only too willing to help, but they had made it very clear that the chances were slim. Clint knew that slim meant impossible, for a start Jane had searched for Thor for two years after he first came to earth and came up with nothing, so why should it be any different this time?

Clint just letting his thoughts swirl silently round his head just like the coffee in the mug. The next thing he knew there was someone touching his shoulder. Clint turned his head expecting to see Tash, well, no one else could sneak up on him so easily, but what his eyes took in made him jump a mile.

"Holy Shit!" Clint jumped clean over the counter and grabbed a gun from one of Natasha's many hiding spots. "Jarvis Battle stations!" Clint loaded the weapon and took a glance, gun first, over the worktop. The tall figure in golden armour hadn't attacked, in fact he had backed off, laying his sword carefully on the glass table in the middle of the room. Clint stood up cautiously but kept his gun trailed on the intruder. Well he was definitely Asgardian, had Jane and Eric succeeded in some way but reached the wrong person? Where the hell had he come from? Stuff that he didn't want to know.

"Who the hell are you and what do you want?" Clint demanded.

"I mean you no harm warrior of Midgard, I'm am Heimdall of Asgard and I come with an urgent message from Thor." Heimdall raised his hands and took another step back to demonstrate his sincerity. Neither took their eyes off the other.

"Oh yeah, so why couldn't he bring it himself?" Clint wasn't backing down, the last time they'd come here they'd taken Tony and there was no way anything like that was happening again on his watch.

"Please, friend of Thor, there is little time, Thor is bringing home your Man of Iron but you and your friends must prepare…"

"Prepare for what? What is going on?" Steve and Natasha burst into the room weapons drawn and shield at the ready but still in t-shirt and jeans. Bruce stood behind the other with a determined look etched on his face, whilst Jane and Eric burst through the door shortly after, brandishing a pair of scissors and a ruler, which had been clearly sharpened by said scissors. Bruce glanced behind him at his fellow scientists and had to try very hard to hold back a smirk despite the seriousness of the situation.

Heimdall broke the silence. "I do not expect you to lower your weapons, in you place I would certainly not, all I ask is that you listen well and do not interrupt, time is of the essence."

Steve looked Heimdall up and down but glanced to Natasha for her judgement. She gave a nod to indicate that he was no threat to them and Steve stepped a little further forward into the room.

"We're listening."

Heimdall told them his story.

…

He had expected there to be more guards, in fact he must have been half way down the tunnels and he had only seen three. Thankfully he had managed to avoid them seeing him. Stealth was hardly Thor's strong point, and he would much rather fight than hide but this was a different battle and these were his people. He didn't want to hurt them, they were just following orders.

There was very little light in the tunnels, most of which was originating as a soft blue glow from the tesseract concealed beneath Thor's cape. He had to acknowledge his brother, his route into the vault had been seamless, taking the tesseract had been child's play, in fact it had been almost too easy. One thing was for certain, he would be informing his father of said route when this was all over, the security risk was far too great.

Finally, the tunnel came to an end and opened out to reveal a single small cell with two men standing guard under the glow of a flaming torch. It was bitterly cold down here Thor mused, the air smelt of damp and the walls dripped like the inside of a cave. They were very deep underground, well below the foundations of the city and there was only one way out should things go wrong.

Thor wished that it would be just as simple as picking up Tony and using the tesseract to escape, but Loki had warned him off using it in a confined space. If it went wrong they could anywhere in the universe, or destroy the city, or both. By the Gods, he hated magic and the like.

Thor peered around the corner again and gritted his teeth. There was no easy way around this, he was going to have to fight these men and he wouldn't be able to sneak up on them either. He let Mjolnir slide through his hand to gain a good grip and stepped out into the small prison. The guards barely had chance to react before they were felled, and Thor proceeded to bring Mjolnir on the Iron bars that separated him from his objective.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.

The man before him was barely more than a skeleton with skin so pale you would have been forgiven for mistaking he was already dead. The only sign of life was the shifting of his ribs under translucent grey skin, each breath looking like it took all his courage to muster.

"Stark?" Thor had to swallow back vomit. Tony was lied on his side facing Thor, yet the God barely recognised his friend. The bones on his face were so pronounced that almost all trace of the man he had seen only months ago had wasted away. Thor hurried forward and began to undo the shackles that bound Tony in place. They were completely unnecessary, he realised now that the reason there were so few guards was because there simply was no need. Tony couldn't have escaped if he'd wanted to and the whole way his limp form sagged into the freezing stone floor looked defeated.

Thor found the IV line that Loki had warned him of, a nearly constant stream of CAEB suppressant was being pumped into his veins and killing more slowly and painfully than Thor dared to imagine. Thor wanted to tear the offending needle out of his friends arm in anger, but Stark's fragility stopped him. He took it out with as much care as his large numb fingers could muster and inspected the deep purple bruising the needle had left behind. Anywhere he was touching the floor the same bruising could be seen, right to the bone. There was nothing left to cushion him, each bone could be seen so close to the surface with little more than skin between them and the air.

Thor gently stroked Tony's hair, trying to muster a response. He didn't want to move him until he was conscious so that he could be sure that he wasn't harming him further, but they didn't have much time until someone inevitably figured out that something was going on.

Tony was as cold as ice. Thor took off his cape and gently wrapped the broken man in it, what good its thin material would do him he wasn't sure but it was better than nothing. Thor grabbed the torch from the wall outside the cell, its flame bringing some much needed warm and light in the darkness. A few minutes passed before Tony's eyelids flickered and blinked slowly open.

"Man of Iron, can you hear me?" Thor kept his voice hushed as a precaution.

For a moment there was utter silence. Tony's eyes were open but he made no move to respond, the drug still heavily clouding his mind and body. Thor repeated his question and a little air escaped Tony's mouth as if he were trying to speak but couldn't. Thor was holding Tony's hand in his and felt Tony's finger lift slightly, trembling. That would do for a response.

Thor scooped Tony up as lightly as he could, but could see the pain flash through Tony's eyes as he did so. "I'm taking you home Stark, just hang on." Tony was completely limp in his arms and barely able to keep his eyes open, his mind seemed to be becoming sharper as the drug wore off but he hadn't any strength to return to him.

Thor walked with Tony back up the long, dark, narrow passage, trying to even his stride and avoid jostling his passenger. Tony's eyes searched weakly around him, taking in his surroundings rather than just staring blankly into space as he had minutes before. The journey to the surface was taking a lot longer than had the journey down. It was uphill and awkward, Thor had to walk nearly sideways to avoid brushing Tony against the narrow walls and tried to glide rather than walk as every small bump sent pain through Tony's eyes and made Thor cringe in sympathy.

…

The darkness was so close he could almost touch it. He knew what it meant if he did. There was no way back from death but that was the only way he could escape the excruciating pain that was crushing him slowly. He had tried to reach out and grab it with both hands but nearly as strong as force helping him edge ever closer to the black shroud was the burning blue within him, desperately struggling to keep him alive. But the blue team was losing its strength, in fact it was nearly time. Time for the agony to end and for Tony to finally, find some peace. The darkness had started to advance now, it was coming for him and he didn't even have to try. That made a change, he thought. But then it started to change, the pain was fading, just a little bit, barely noticeable but it was fantastic and when he checked the dark clouds were retreating, specks of light breaking through and warming his face like the summer sun. He missed summer, he missed home and he realised it's the first time he'd thought of either in, well, however long this had been happening.

There was a sudden blur of gold, pink and red and there was a noise, something other than the buzzing that had plagued him for so long. Thor was there, his face became clearer and he could almost make out the words amidst the constant ringing in his ears, the pain just kept subsiding slowly. Perhaps things weren't going to be so bad after all.

…..

Things had turned very quickly in the dungeons below the golden city. One minute, Thor had been stalking through the tunnels in an almost eerie silence, walking with care and grace in protection of his cargo and the next chaos was echoing through the tunnels. There seemed to be a thousand heavy footsteps advancing towards them and there was only one way out. Tony writhed a little in his arms and his face screwed up in pain, still no sound escaped his mouth though it appeared as if he was trying to speak. His eyes were brighter, as if he was now fully able to take in his surroundings, he tried again to speak, but pain stopped him.

"Please do not try to speak friend Tony." Thor lowered him to the ground as gently as a feather falls in still air, the slowness of his own movements pained Thor as the impending footsteps became louder and vibrations began to ripple through the walls which enclosed them. A lump rose in Thor's throat, but still he tried to avoid his friend anymore pain. As Tony's body finally came to rest on the floor the pained expression on his face made Thor feel sick to the stomach. Tony's hand began to twitch and moved slowly into forming a thumbs up, but it was the eye contact that followed that spoke volumes.

Thor couldn't see a safe way out of this one. He would fight his people if necessary, but he doubted if he could kill them as he would a true enemy. He had fought and trained with many of the men that had been sent to stop him, they were his friends and just following orders, but he had to get Tony out of here. He had the tesseract of course, but from what he had learned when Loki had come to earth the opening of the portal had consumed an entire SHIELD base. He had intended to get far away from the citadel before he had used it, because here, deep underground the city was at great risk if anything went wrong. This was truly an impossible situation, he risked killing hundreds of innocents if he fought, millions if he tried to escape, yet only one if he did nothing. But that one was his friend and Thor was not one to give in, if he could get out of this without any blood spilled, then that's what he would do.

The first men reached him and he knocked them down quickly, they were rendered unconscious with as little injury as could be achieved, but an ocean descended on top of him, wave after wave of warriors, each wave hitting harder than its predecessors and Thor was finding it harder and harder to keep his footing. A blade swung in the right corner of his vision and he blocked it with Mjolnir and yelled out as searing pain burned through his left shoulder. The warrior pulled his weapon from the Thunder God's shoulder and came back for a second attack. Thor was forced to his knees as he blocked the next onslaught and sent a few men flying back with another swing of his hammer. He realised now he had made a grave error, he had assumed his father would have given them orders not to kill his only son, but the precision of the warriors' aim had only one purpose, they had been told that the traitor must die.

Thor was taking more and more blows as he tired quickly, for each row he knocked back with Mjolnir there were twenty more ready to crawl over the fallen and launch themselves at their lone adversary. Thor grunted as he was slammed square in the chest, by what or by whom he couldn't tell, all he could see were bared teeth and flashes of silver bombarding him. He landed on his back and regained his feet in an instant, but the barrier had been down and 10 men had broken through and were charging down the tunnel towards Tony who lie on the floor about 70metres from where Thor stood.

Panic clouded his mind now, Tony had no way to defend himself, but Thor could not move to chase them or the whole army would descend upon him. It was over, they were caught and there really was no way out.

….

 ** _AHHHH I know I'm horrible, but I never usually write cliff hangers and with the word count on this chapter rapidly increasing I thought I better cut there. The fact that it was at such a tense point was coincidence, ok so maybe a little bit deliberate…._**

 ** _Anyway I'm home for Christmas so that means I have more updates coming in the next few weeks. I'm hoping to get another 2 chapters out, maybe 3 before I go back to Uni._**

 ** _Big shout out to all my reviewers, followers and favourites, can't tell you how much it means. This story has been so much more popular than I could have ever imagined considering it's a very odd concept even for an AU fic. We are progressing towards an end but we've got a fair bit to go yet so fear not… I am still debating which ending I will close of the ones I have cooked up so will probably ask for your opinions somewhere in the near future!_**


	14. Chapter 14- Fight for your freedom I

**_Well I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas (or whatever you all celebrate). This was supposed to be one chapter, but well, at 7500words I felt that however much I hated to split this, it really needed to be a two part-er. So, I'm giving you two chapters for the price of one here and they are big ones in terms of plot. Reading through so many pages to check this was hell, so I hope I've got rid of most of the mistakes but please point the ones I've missed. I really need a Beta! (Hint, Hint). So Happy Christmas to my loyal followers and new readers. Please Fave/follow/review, this was a difficult one to write, I'd love to know what you think._**

Previously:

 _Tony comes back through the wormhole with an unknown energy signature draining the life out of him, causing chaos and giving him nightmares. Having got progressively worse Tony awakes from being sedated in agony to find the process has accelerated during the night. Face to face with the Avengers, the energy reaches 100% and the CAEB is released. The team stand no chance against the CAEB but with help from Jarvis Tony forces the CAEB to merge with his own nervous system._

 _The relief is short lived when Asgardian soldiers, led by Odin take Tony by force restraining the Avengers and disappear as suddenly as they arrived._

 _Over 3 months later the team is falling apart and there are still no leads on finding Tony. Natasha gathers everyone together and gives them a 3-month ultimate to find Tony or give up and inform SHIELD._

 _Thor is informed by Heimdall and Loki that the CAEB when merged with its host may be the only one to save the universe._

 _Learning that Tony is the CAEB and has less than half an hour left he formulates an escape with Loki's help to gain the tesseract, but when attempting to escape the tunnels Thor is ambushed by the Asgardian army._

 _10 men have broken past Thor and are heading straight for the defenceless Tony…_

 _Thor could not move to chase them or the whole army would descend upon him. It was over, they were caught and there really was no way out._

 **Chapter 14 -Fight for your freedom**

 **Part I**

There was only one thing for it. Thor let down his arms that had been holding back the marauding army and dived towards Tony. He wasn't going to make it in time. He was catching the soldiers who had broken through but they had nearly reached their target. Tony was helpless. He threw Mjolnir and knocked the pursuing warriors against the wall and into unconsciousness. That was one problem dealt with, but he had no idea how to get the tesseract working and get them both out before the swarm engulfed them. The charging Asgardians were breathing down his neck. An Axe blade whistled through the air, slicing its way through the dark tunnel in search of its target. Thor was oblivious.

Tony's eyes trailed the weapon and calculated its destination. He tried to yell a warning. Nothing. He tried to get up, but his breath left him before his muscles raised him more than an inch. He had to do something. He had to protect his friend.

There was an Earth-shattering clatter and the world seemed to slow down. Thor glanced behind them and all he saw was blue. He turned his head to see that the following army was no longer moving, stopped by an invisible wall and looking perplexed. Thor stopped running to examine the barrier. The warriors crushed at the bottom of the pile were pounding against the shield, each blow sent blue veins shooting through the air and a pained wheeze cutting through the air behind him. Tony!

Thor turned around to see Tony's arm outstretched and shaking terribly. His eyes glowed the same blue as the Shield that had saved him. With every fist or sword that pounded against it another drop of thick crimson liquid dripped from Tony's nose and pooled on the floor.

Thor wasted no more time in running towards him. Tony was barely breathing now, it was taking all his strength just to hold out his hand. More blue erupted into the tunnel as Thor took out the tesseract and quickly got to work, Tony couldn't hold on much longer and Thor feared what would happen if he did. Holding up the shield was visibly draining him, every second that passed more blood oozed from his nose until it was flowing down his face like a river, his skin went from pale to white and then to grey and his breath from a rasping wheeze to non-existent.

…..

He had no idea what he was doing or how he was doing it but it seemed to be working. It didn't hurt; which made a change. In fact, it felt quite good in a way, well he supposed it would have felt brilliant if it didn't feel like it was sucking the life out of him. Every muscle in his body was tense and quivering, his teeth were gritted in effort and his vision grew dark at the edges. His body should have been screaming at him, but it just wasn't, everything seemed calm and quiet. The world was almost running in slow motion as the power coursed through him. He knew his body was failing but he didn't feel it, all he felt was urgency, was Thor going to stand and stare all day or was he going to get them out of here? Oh good. Thank you. The God was finally moving but Tony's vision was just coming in flashes. Thor was running, black, Thor was knelt beside him, more blackness, there was something blue, the tesseract, the blackness took over. The shield was let down and the army descended.

…..

The Avengers were pacing. Heimdall was pacing, which was certainly unlike him. It had been nearly an hour since he had managed to convince the Midgardians he meant no harm and inform them that Thor should be arriving forthwith. It had been too long, something must have gone wrong and he could sense the others were beginning to doubt his sincerity once more.

Steve paused his movement and turned to Heimdall, he wanted to trust his words they all did, but the proverbial elephant in the room had to be addressed at some time. Heimdall met Steve's questioning gaze and opened his mouth to speak before his head snapped to the left and stared at the empty space in the room.

Seconds later the room erupted in blue light, which had everyone's attention instantly. Thor was crouched in the centre of the room with his back to them. But where was Tony? The room was silent as the steaming blue energy surrounding Thor dissipated and he came properly into focus.

Thor raised his head and the room appeared empty. He was definitely in Stark tower, the view of New York from the window in front of him was incredibly familiar. He looked back down at his passenger cradled tightly against body in his silent sleep. His heart leapt for a moment. Was he breathing? He cast the tesseract aside and placed his now free hand in front of Tony's mouth. For several ghastly seconds he felt nothing, but finally there was the prickle of hot air against his palm and he sighed in relief. There was a sound behind him and Thor turned his head to see the room behind him was actually full of his friends.

"Doctor Banner, could you help please?" Thor's voice sounded, well, weak. It was incredibly disconcerting. Bruce pushed his way through the crowd in front of him and crouched beside Thor. Natasha noted the way he moved, like lightning across the room yet his haste went unnoticed due the calmness he exuded. A calmness, thought Natasha, which was the complete opposite of what he was feeling right now.

Natasha was right, Bruce's heart was on overdrive, the anticipation was the worst thing he had ever felt. He had expected it to be bad, he had imagined it would be horrible, but nothing could have prepared him for what he saw. Tony looked dead. A wave of nausea rushed through Bruce's stomach and had him swallowing down bile before he puked all over his friend, or what was left of him. Bruce hated that phrase, but the fact was it was the only fit description of how Tony looked right now, he was barely recognisable as anything other than a corpse. A tear slid from Bruce's eye before he managed to compose himself and work objectively. This wasn't Tony Stark, his best friend, this was just any other patient.

"Guys I need you to get a mattress off one of the beds and bring it to me, someone get me a drip from med bay, my medical bag and well, whatever you can carry from med bay… Oh and blankets, lots of blankets… and pillows."

Clint practically leapt into action. "I'm getting the mattress…." His room was closest only one floor below

"Blankets and pillows!" Jane was admirably quick to follow suit.

"You'll need a hand." Tash offered

Steve tapped Eric on the shoulder, "looks like we're on the medical stuff."

"I will assist." Heimdall followed Steve and Eric from the room.

And in seconds the room was clear.

Bruce turned to Thor.

"What happened to him?"

"I'm not sure Doctor Banner, he has been on some sort of drug to suppress the CAEB inside him and it is certainly not designed for Humans."

"Ok, so any injuries? Did they… torture him?" Bruce swallowed hard at this, he could see Thor blaming himself for this, but Bruce had a very strong hunch that it was nothing to do with him at all.

"Again, I'm not sure but I say that it would be likely." Thor resisted the urge to shudder, in fear of hurting Tony and just hung his head in shame. Bruce broke off from examining Tony and just placed a hand on the God's shoulder.

"Not your fault Buddy."

"How can you be certain of that, you don't know what transpired, I could have…"

"Not now Thor, there will be time later. Let's just get Tony stable, yes?" Thor nodded in response.

"I'm guessing no solid food?"

Thor shook his head "He was given what he needed through a drip along with the drug."

"And how long since he was dosed with that? Have you got any that I can analyse, so that I know what I am dealing with?"

"I have none I'm afraid, but I removed that infernal needle from him about an hour ago. When I first found him, his eyes were open but there was no consciousness. I sat with him 20 minutes before he could respond. It was as if he were paralysed at first, but as soon as he was no longer being fed that poison he became brighter quite rapidly." Thor felt that it was best to answer Bruce's questions as they came, he didn't want to waste time by telling the story with unnecessary detail.

"How did this happen?" Bruce pointed to the strain of dried blood that was covering most of Tony's face and neck.

"There was only one way in and out of the dungeon he was imprisoned in. I was carrying him out when the warriors of Asgard trapped us. The CAEB, he… he made a shield and protected me, but the effort cost him dearly, that is why he fell unconscious just before I activated the tesseract to bring him here."

The lift doors slid open and a familiar voice filled the room. "Jarvis rang me, said there was an emergency and we should all suit up so what's going …. Thor?" Rhodey paused in the lift as the pieces slowly slotted together. If Thor was here then… "Tony!" Rhodey spotted the mass of tousled brown hair he knew so well and dropped his bags to be by his side in an instant.

Bruce wanted to say something, utter some word of warning but there wasn't time and the look of Rhodey's face when he saw the state of his best friend would haunt Bruce for the rest of his life.

After the initial moment of shock Rhodey reached out to stroke his friend's forehead but hesitated, what if he hurt him? He looked so fragile. He bit his lip and looked up at the ceiling, biting back the tears that were stinging the corner of his eyes. Tony was alive, that was the main thing, Tony was still alive. He lowered his hand the rest of the way and gently ran his fingers lightly through Tony's hair. His reward was a pair of big brown eyes staring back at him.

Rhodey broke out into a grin. Those eyes spoke a thousand words, they were just as glad to see him as he was to see them. "Hey buddy." Rhodey's voice cracked and a tear broke free to slide down his cheek. Bruce's eyes were equally brimming. Thor's beaming grin showed his delight, yet his eyes betrayed a deep-set sorrow and immeasurable guilt.

"Hey…" Tony's unused voice was a rasping mess and was followed by a series of hacking coughs which shook his frail body and made his three watchmen cringe. "What's with the waterworks?"

There grins widened, delighted that the same old Tony was in there.

"Tony please don't talk."

"Bruce, it's me, they managed to shut me up for… How long?"

"Four and a half months Tones." Rhodey chuckled incredulously

"Ouch, ok, longer than last time, sorry about that." Tony turned to Rhodey sympathetically. "Well, anyway, they shut me up for that long I've got to make up for lost time."

"Tony, you really don't."

"Don't argue with the poorly person it's not allowed." Tony's voice was a delight to hear, but an agonising one. The obvious pain it was causing him even to talk made them cringe in sympathy. They just wanted to take the pain away, but of course they couldn't.

There was a harsh panting from the emergency stairwell as a mattress opened the door and fell into the room. A red-faced Clint fell atop the mattress, burying his face.

"Sorry," he panted. "Elevator wasn't working."

"Sorry Clint that's my fault." Rhodey glanced guilty at his bags which were blocking the lift door.

"Its fine Rhodey, the fat chicken needed a work out."

"Shut your face Stark." Clint was muffled, face firmly planted in the mattress, the other three grinned and silently counted waiting for it to sink in. one… two… three… four… "Hang on, Tony? Tony!" Clint leapt to his feet and squeezed into the small circle.

"Hey Tony. Buddy! God I've missed you."

"Sentiment appreciated Bird brain, but could you bring that mattress, as much as I like being cuddled by muscles here I'd prefer something soft and squishy."

"Oh yeah sure."

"Right I have pillows and blankets…." Jane announced from behind Natasha who, arms full and a pillow covering her face, proceeded to make like her predecessor and fall face first onto the mattress. "CLINT!"

"Sorry!"

"Clint, will you move Rhodey's bags so the others can use the lift and I don't end up treating the entire team for tripping over your damn mattress." Bruce sighed in amusement.

The bags were moved and the mattress was manoeuvred into place. Bruce gently prized Thor's cape out of Tony's hands, who reluctantly relaxed to hand it over, Bruce realised that Tony had been clinging onto it for dear life, those blankets had certainly been a good idea.

Thor carefully laid Tony onto the mattress with the help of Rhodey and Clint. It was a difficult and delicate operation. Tony was a master at concealing his pain, but it was clear that even the slightest movement was next to excruciating. As soon as he was on his back, Tony tried to roll onto his side. He hated being on his back. A strong pair of hands held him back, but Rhodey placed a hand on Thor's shoulder and then the two gently helped him to get comfortable.

The medical supplies arrived soon after and everything was quite for a little while, Tony's breathing was shallow and fast as he recovered from the pain of being moved. Bruce took the time when Tony was least likely to protest to examine him properly. Every single one of his ribs had been broken at some stage in the recent past, and many were still far from being healed. He suspected his pelvis had been re-fractured as well, though without x-ray he couldn't be sure.

With Thor now free to move, Jane pulled him to one side and they talked quietly. Natasha smiled softly to herself, Thor needed comfort right now. It amazed her in a way that someone who had lived so long and seen so much was traumatised by this, but on the other hand she knew how much Thor cared, how much they all cared about the snarky billionaire who was lying on that mattress. They had all failed to protect him, they all felt guilty, but at least they had him back now.

"Where's Pep?" Tony asked after a while, his voice was even more shaky and tired than it had been before and it made Bruce a little worried.

"Did anyone call her, Rhodey?"

"No, I only came because Jarvis called me so… J?"

"Miss Potts was not on the call list for protocol Battle stations, however I have just made a call suggesting she come immediately."

"Thanks J." Tony coughed again and four sets of hands braced him and agony flashed across his eyes.

"Ok Tones, maybe we should just be quiet for a bit yeah." Tony nodded at his oldest friend and let his eyes slip shut. Well propped with pillows and wrapped in blankets it wasn't long before Tony fell asleep, for the first time in four and half months. And it was good.

…..

"You mean to tell me that my Son, alone and unaided, managed to escape my army in its entirety from a dungeon with only one exit?"

The young warrior that stood before the enraged Odin gulped and tried to conceal the slight tremor that was taking hold of his lower jaw.

"My Liege, I can only apologise for our failure. May I go to offer some explanation for our defeat?"

The young warrior knew better than to try and make excuses to his King, especially when he was as furious as Odin was now. He knew of course that it was not his fault, Odin's army could never have matched what they faced in that tunnel, but reason was not something that Odin would be listening to for a period.

"I think you had better." Odin's voice could only be described as a roar, it shook the very walls of the throne room and the warrior was forced to take a deep breath before continuing.

"Thor was not unaided my liege, he fought admirably but we were overwhelming him. The CAEB with his powers constructed some sort of Shield, which meant we could not reach him."

"Are you trying to tell me that, that monster protected my son?"

"Ermm, no my liege, I believe his actions were selfish. Thor had the tesseract, if we had taken Thor the CAEB would have had no means of escape."

"Please skip to the part where this makes sense to me!" The young warrior bowed slightly.

"Thor used the tesseract to escape with the CAEB."

"And how pray, did he retrieve that unnoticed."

"I do not know My Liege."

"Well find out!"

"Yes, my Liege." The warrior turned and moved as swiftly out of the room as he could.

"Odin!" Frigga was on a war path. Her husband was not seeing straight and she was going to make damn sure that changed.

"Not now Frigga."

"Yes, _now_ husband!"

"What do you want?"

"For you to stop being pig headed and think. Our son would not betray Asgard unless he truly believed in his cause."

"Yes, I know that Frigga, but the CAEB is capable of twisting the mind."

"Yes Odin, but I was listening and why, pray, would the CAEB need Thor and the tesseract to escape when it is well within its power to teleport? Why would he go through the pain of protecting our son who, may it be noted, you ordered stopped at _any_ cost?"

"It is weakened in human form, it is weakened from my drugs and perhaps its human part has not yet realised it can teleport."

"Odin see sense."

"Enough! You are angry because I endangered our son when he endangered himself by betraying his King." Frigga looked at him with a rage that could not be tamed.

"Oh, spare me your filthy look woman! I knew he could not be killed by our warriors I have trained him too well. Your council has proved valuable in the past Frigga, but you would be wise not to disprove your usefulness by continuing on this path."

"You dare treat me such? I am your equal husband, I have proved it enough. I understand what is at stake if the CAEB is left free, but you must also consider what is at stake if the prophecy has transpired."

"That is superstitious nonsense."

"Believe what you will, just know that if you continue on this path Thor will not be the only member of your family that stands against you." Frigga had, had enough, she turned on her heel and marched towards the door.

"This is treason! I should have both your heads for this!"

"Oh Husband, I would love to see you try." Frigga made sure to slam the door behind her and it rumbled like thunder in the Great Hall. The room was left empty, save for a furious and incredulous Odin.

…..

Sleep was weird. He wasn't alone. There were voices all around him, quiet at first but as more and more joined them the whispers turned into a roar that was deafening. There were languages he'd never heard before and yet he understood them. He could see things, strange places, and far reaches of space. It was terrifying and mystical at the same time, but the more he focused on it, the more he saw and the more it burnt through his head. It was too much, it was too big. There was only one place he wanted to be right now, one face he wanted to see, so he focused hard, shrinking down his Universe, making it smaller until he saw the face he wanted to see. She looked tired, he wanted to hug her, and it had been so long. She was in car and getting closer. They would be reunited soon. Tony smiled inwardly, the rest of his sleep was decidedly normal.

…..

Steve was thankful that Pepper hadn't seen Tony with the blood on his face, nor in the shirtless state he had arrived in. Granted he wasn't exactly looking rosy in his sleeping state but the heavy blanket hid the extent of his malnourishment and the oxygen mask which Bruce had sneakily slipped on while he slept was doing a good job of disguising how skeletal his face appeared. It shamed Steve a little that he could barely face looking at Tony, certainly not out of disgust, but it hurt to see him like this, it made him feel sick to the stomach. Logic told him that there was nothing they could have done to prevent this, they had tried everything they could and he was home now, but his gut forced a guilt upon him that he knew would take him a good while to shake free.

Pepper walked in with butterflies in her stomach. Any meeting that she had been called to since Tony was taken had brought bad news or none and she really didn't know how much more she could take. She stepped into the penthouse common room with a heavy heart, before her eyes were drawn to a mass of blankets and dark brown muss of hair piled onto a mattress in front of her.

Steve's heart glowed when he saw the look on Pepper's face, it was like her whole world just suddenly slipped back into place, a great weight lifted off her shoulders and her face lit up like all her Christmases had come at once.

…..

Heimdall was reluctant to interrupt Thor and his beloved, she was of great comfort to him at a time where he blamed himself so heavily. The other human, he who had lost a piece of his mind to Loki's interference was equally close to Thor's heart. He had watched them during Thor's exile, they and the young woman Darcy had been responsible for transforming an arrogant boy into the most admirable man and wise king that Asgard could ever hope to have.

"My Prince, I fear this happy scene will be short lived."

"I hear you Heimdall, but the dark energy needed to send an army from Asgard would be great, and you have already used so much in transporting yourself here."

"I understand that Thor, but you know your father will not give up so easily."

"Yes, yes I know, but he would not underestimate me, he will send a considerable force and it will take time to gather the dark energy, we have days if not weeks to prepare."

"I would agree my Prince…" Heimdall hesitated

"However?" Thor respected Heimdall's guidance beyond measure and was eager to learn of what he may have missed.

"I just have a feeling that your Father may find his own solution to this problem and that we should be prepared all the same." Thor nodded in consideration.

"Thank you Heimdall, I would indeed do well not to underestimate my father as he would not award me the same courtesy."

 ** _God writing the Asgardian stuff is hard, though it is made a bit easier A) by being British and B) by having posh grandparents! I couldn't resist getting some Badass Frigga in there so I hope you enjoyed that!_**

 ** _Stay tuned for part II coming in the next few hours once I've given it a final proof read._**


	15. Chapter 15- Fight for your freedom II

Chapter 15

 _ **Here we go for part II… Got to give a massive shout out to sweetkakes35 for a second review! I feel blessed thank you so much.**_

 **Fight for your freedom**

 **Part II**

Tony woke to the sensation of yet more fingers running through his hair, but these were more familiar and even more comforting than any of their predecessors. He opened his eyes to a beautiful glow of red hair and a stunning smile that he knew every inch of.

"Pep." Tony croaked contentedly, muffled under the oxygen mask.

"Tony." Pepper replied tearfully. "Don't you ever do that again."

"I'll do my best."

"You said that last time." She said playfully.

"Well you know, this line of work you bound to come across some crazy shit every now and again and I do have a habit of pissing people off."

"No arguments there."

"Shut up Clint. Hang on…" Tony suddenly noticed the heavy weight and wrestled the oxygen mask off his face. Bruce raised a hand to protest but immediately gave up and used it to cover his face in frustration instead. "Why?" Tony looked around incredulously "And who stabbed me?"

"Tony that IV drip is also feeding you, so don't complain." Natasha answered on Bruce's behalf.

"Why can't I just have a cheese burger, I'm bloody starving."

"Because you haven't eaten in nearly 5months, your digestive system has shut down and eating would provide you with a very painful death."

"But I want a cheeseburger!" Tony whined

"We'll have to wean you back onto food slowly. Start with water, then fruit juices, milk, smoothies then maybe if you keep some soft food down you can have that cheese burger." That all sounded rather slow and boring to Tony.

"What about Scotch?"

"NO!" They all said in unison. He sniggered softly despite the jolts it gave his aching body and the others couldn't help but join in.

"Oh Tony!" Steve sighed and chuckled contentedly.

"I was meaning to ask this before nap time, but why are you in spangles, spangles? We expecting something?" The whole team was in battle dress and it seemed quite out of place.

"Ermm well…" Steve turned to look for Thor to explain, but the God was already coming over.

"I'm afraid we may be. It is unlikely my Father will let us go so easily."

"Of course not." Clint threw his hands in the air. "It couldn't just be easy for once."

Natasha for once didn't thump Clint but feeling his genuine anguish placed a hand on his shoulder. "What can we expect Thor?" Steve had his objective head on.

"I would say a small army."

"Ok then, nothing we can't handle!" Clint was getting a bit hysterical.

"Not helping Clint." Natasha's voice was calm in the hope it would rub off on the archer.

"Anyway of telling when we can expect this army?" Rhodey was moving away from Tony's side for the first time since he arrived and Pepper took the chance to move the conversation away from Tony's makeshift bedside in the hope he would get some much needed rest.

"Well that's something I hoped that Jane and Eric could help with, and possibly you as well Bruce. Is there anyway you could set up something to detect energy changes, especially the build-up of dark energy." Jane and Eric looked at each other and gritted their teeth.

"Well, err, energy yeah we can set up something but in terms of detecting dark energy that's a bit beyond us right now." Jane replied.

Tony would have butted in at this point, astrophysics, not 100% his area, but then again he was a genius, everything was his area. If there was anyone who could make a breakthrough in dark energy detection on a short timescale it was him. But he really didn't feel like talking right now, in fact he really wasn't feeling good at all.

Beads of sweat glistened on his forehead and heat prickled at his skin. Suddenly he was very uncomfortable, the aching pains that has plagued his body started to become very acute and his temples burnt in frustration. He groaned quietly, mindful the others might hear and let a grimace slide onto his face. He was increasingly glad that he was lying on his side and facing away from the intense conversation going on behind him. He could no longer focus on their words, the pain in his temples was roaring now. He groaned again and resisted the urge to shuffle, knowing it would only bring more pain. Now his chest felt heavy and tight, his muscles felt weak, his throat and chest screamed. The air, where had the air gone? He reached a frail, bony hand out from under the blanket and found the oxygen mask he'd earlier discarded, clamping it hard to his face. He should probably call for help now, he just needed more air. His breathing doubled in speed, the corners of his vision were starting to become blurred and dark. This was Shit. He tried to speak, but once again his voice failed him. Now he really was in trouble. Panic ate at his insides and his breathing rate doubled again. No, stay calm, must stay calm. "Bruce!" He almost choked getting the words out, but it was so quiet, painfully quiet. No one heard him above their own urgent voices. "Bruce!" He tried again, but once more it was nothing more than a hoarse whisper, barely louder than his own breathing. This time someone heard.

Steve was concentrating deeply on what was being said, or trying to, it was inherently difficult to concentrate when you barely understood a word of what was going on around you. His mind began to wander and his eyes trailed across the room back to their injured comrade and his fortress of blankets. That's when he heard a whisper, that's when he heard him calling Bruce's name, heard the raspy rapid breathing, noticed the panic in his words and the slight tremor of the blankets.

"Jesus, Bruce, Bruce!" The uncharacteristic anxiety in Steve's voice and the way flew across the floor sent the room into panic mode.

"Tony, Tony can you hear me." Bruce looped the oxygen mask strap over the back of Tony's head and moved his hand away so he could check his pupils were responsive.

"Nmmgghnm." Was all that Tony managed to muster in response, but at least it was a response. His pupils were dilated, and he flinched away from the light swatting the doctor on the nose in the process. He was shaking quite badly now, fever running rife through his frail body, he was burning up but shivering and clutching the blankets tight.

"Bruce what's happening?" Pepper was nearly in tears and Rhodey hugged her tight into him. The Doctor held a hand up for silence while he racked his brains for answer. The truth was he didn't know.

Tony arched his back suddenly, his head forced hard into the mattress, his eyes full of pain.

"It's Ok, Tony, its ok." Bruce soothed, knowing full well it wasn't. The obvious agony that Tony was in was making the team sick with worry.  
"Shall I get some morphine, anything, for the pain?" Clint couldn't take it, he felt so helpless.

"No, I can't give him anything, I don't know what chemicals he was given on Asgard, and the mix could kill him." Natasha bit her lip. Bruce was right of course. He'd had an unknown drug in his system for months and he'd only been off it for a few hours… Of course!

"Bruce, could this be withdrawal?"

"Shit, yes. Natasha thank you, you are a genius." Bruce wondered how he could have been so stupid. Of course he was going through withdrawal, and naturally with an Alien Superdrug it was going to be so much worse than any Earthly narcotic could cause. "I'm sorry Tony, you're just going to have to ride this one out Buddy."

"wll… Fuucckkk." Tony somehow managed to curse sarcastically, and the others nearly smiled, nearly.

Suddenly Tony's head started twitching from side to side, as if he wasn't in control. His entire body went rigid, muscles tensed.

"Oh shit." Bruce hissed through his teeth

"Bruce?" Pepper's eyes were wide with terror.

"He's having a seizure. Just stand back and someone get me the AED." Natasha calmly did as Bruce asked.

"The Defibrillator? Bruce, is he…"

"It's just a precaution Rhodes, usually they wake up fine after a seizure but if he needs a helping hand I'll deal…"

There was an almighty crash behind them and everyone jumped out of their skins. A huge metal monster stood in the centre of the room, 8ft tall and glistening in the sunlight that streamed through the glass front.

"Everyone down!" Thor roared. Moments later a burning blast of orange tore through the wall centimetres above their heads. Cap grabbed his Shield, Rhodey fumbled for the war machine case and Natasha grabbed Jane and Eric forcing them out of the room.

Thor swung Mjolnir and sent the monster crashing through three walls, dust and rubble exploded into the air.

Bruce attached the leads to Tony's chest and connected it up the AED. Thor had bought them some time, but not a lot.

"Pepper! You have to go!" Bruce shouted above the sound of the metal giant powering back up.

"I'm not leaving him."

Rhodey in the War machine armour grabbed Peppers arm. "Pep, please come-on!" She shook her head, but the returning Natasha took her arm gently.

"Pepper I'll take care of him, now go!" Pepper caved and Clint led her out the room as fast as he could. Small flames flickered amongst the shards of plaster and concrete that now littered the floor, Thor and Steve stood poised before the gaping hole, waiting.

A dark shadow burst into view followed by orange. Thor dived out of its path and the glass exploded. Clint threw himself over Tony and three shards embedded themselves deep in his shoulder. He cried out. Bruce was looking very green.

"Clint, Natasha get him out of here and do not come back in!" Bruce pointed to Tony, he had no end of respect for the two assassins, but this fight was big and they just didn't have the fire power to help.

"Like hell we're leaving!" Russian fury burnt in Natasha's eyes.

"No, don't move him!" Heimdall bellowed. "The destroyer is here for _him_ , as long as he is in this room we can keep it focused on us and protect your fellow Midgardians."

Bruce nodded and held his hands up in submission.

Steve ran two steps forward. The destroyer fired again. The blast hit the centre of the shield and he was thrown through the nearest wall.

"Banner code green!" Rhodey yelled, as Thor leapt between the destroyer and the hole Steve had disappeared through. He swung the hammer to deflect the second blast, but much to his surprise the blast nearly knocked Mjolnir out of his grasp and he in turn went crashing through the wall.

"Arrrrghh, Shit!" Bruce started unbuttoning his shirt with one hand and setting up the AED with the other. "Tash, Clint if _this_ , goes red press _that_ button and stand clear." They both nodded curtly. A moment later Bruce was gone and Hulk was roaring.

Thor strode back into the room supporting a slightly worse for wear Steve. Heimdall was dodging the blasts skilfully, keeping them well away from the more vulnerable members of the team. Rhodey was firing shot after shot from the repulsors but was sorely limited by the firepower he could use without bringing the building down on their heads. He kept that option open, it may be helpful as a last resort. It was clear to Thor that the All-father had made some improvements to his most valued protector since he'd destroyed it in New Mexico. This battle was not going to be so easy.

Thor smiled as the Hulk managed to land the team's first damaging blows and the Destroyer's metal body started to buckle, but his triumph was short lived as another blast hit the Hulk at short range and sent him flying out of the building through the broken window.

Natasha was watching events unfurl, feeling utterly helpless. Bruce's words may have angered her but he was right, their biggest guns couldn't touch this thing and even a glancing blow would kill her or Clint instantly. She pressed hard onto Clint's wound, she had one eye on the battle and one eye on that light. Clint was more preoccupied with Tony, the seizure was starting to become less violent, but Tony's eyes were still scarily blank. His head was starting to feel cloudy, each blast made his jump. Blood loss can do that, he supposed. He glanced to his right, Natasha's determined face told him that she was doing enough focusing for the both them, good.

"DOWN!" Natasha shoved Clint away from her, splitting them. War machine slammed into the concrete wall behind them and rolled off onto the floor. The armour shifted slightly, its controller trying to get up but realising he hadn't the strength.

"Rhodes, stay down, give yourself time." Natasha knew there was no point in getting straight back up, he'd be slow and vulnerable and probably end up being put down for good if he was hit again. The armour nodded in response and lay there, momentarily defeated.

Natasha refocused herself after the distraction, Tony was still. The light was Red. She hit the button. Tony's back arched. He lay still, his chest unmoving. She held her breath.

Tony gasped for air and his eyes snapped open. There was another explosion and the sound of Mjolnir whistling across the room. Tony's head flicked from side to side, eyes wide in confusion and his mind moving slowly. The hulk roared viciously as it leapt back in through the window and began its onslaught of rage.

"Whaaa…" Natasha pressed a finger to Tony's lips.

"Odin must have really like you Tones, seems he doesn't want to let you go." Clint slurred slightly, the injury was clearly worse than it had first appeared. He hadn't got back up.

"Hey Tones." Rhodes finally got back to his feet, but had to duck again instantly as another blast headed their way. The searing heat skimmed above Tony's face, he could smell his own hair singing.

Steve wiped the blood from his face where it dribbled from a deep cut above his eye, but it was pointless, he was covered in it. He struggled out from underneath yet another pile of rubble, every fibre ached. The shield and his suit were scorched, and even Thor was grazed. Heimdall was on one knee supporting himself against the wall, with the destroyer about to take its next shot. The Hulk just kept bouncing back, every time he was thrown through the wall he re-emerged seconds later with face full of rage. Thor could not deflect the blasts, and there were rare opportunities to deal it blows. For the second time today Thor could not see a way out of this, well, not without a miracle. Luckily for them a miracle, for the second time today, was exactly what was about to occur.

Tony was on his feet. How it happened, no one really knew, but from the desperate state he had been in just moments before he had never looked stronger. The chaos stopped for a moment. Everyone just stared. Well, everyone apart from the destroyer.

Tony's eyes glowed blue as the burning inferno raced towards him, he held up one hand and a blue shield appeared in front of him. The flaming blast arrived but was stopped dead in its path. Tony stood firm but the effort was clear. He gritted his teeth as the blast kept coming, blood dripped from his nose and he raised a second hand intuitively for support. Finally the destroyer stopped.

The shield dropped instantly and Tony stumbled back a few steps, putting one knee on the ground and panting heavily.

The All-father watched the Destroyers work from afar, realising the need for a change in tact. He had, had time to think upon Frigga's words and well, perhaps he had been slightly blinded by his rage at Thor's betrayal. Thoughts of the prophecy where eating at the back of his mind, It was time to find out the truth once and for all. Did Tony Stark stand before the destroyer? Or did the epitome of evil?

He sent 8 blasts, one at each of the rooms occupants. He knew the man standing centre stage was not strong enough to stop them all, the question was would he save himself? Or his friends?

Tony barely had time to think, he took a deep breath and the world slowed down. He wasn't strong enough, he knew that. He could barely stand. He could try stop them all but he knew he would likely fail, but he had to protect the people he loved most in all the world. He wasn't sure he could stop more than two or three successfully, was he going to have to choose who to shield? Well, Thor Hulk and Heimdall could take it… maybe Steve too? No! There had to be a clever way out of this one, there always was. He couldn't stop them… but maybe he could redirect them.

The others gazed open mouthed as they realised what was happening. It was like time had paused for a moment, everything ran in a terrible slow motion. The orange blasts one by one changed their path, as if entering a funnel with one clear destination. What was he doing! Tony, blood streaming down his face and shaking with effort, held his arms wide as if to greet them.

"Tony no!" Rhodey screamed, his voice was filled with desperation.

Tony turned his head slightly and winked back at his teams distraught faces. He shielded himself at the last second. A blast of blue and orange met, there was a blinding light, a deafening boom; and then everything went black.

…..

Thor woke to ringing ears and blurred vision. Slowly his mind cleared and the dust cloud settled, he could make out other figures in the room, stirring. There were quite groans and the sounds of shifting rubble, but no orange fire, no destroyer.

"Thor." The voice was oddly familiar to the Asgardian, too familiar; he had a distinct feeling it should be angry, and yet it wasn't.

"Thor." The voice repeated. Thor looked up into the face of his Father and almost jumped, it was the last face he was expecting to see and the last thing he expected it to do was offer down a hand to help him to his feet. Thor warily accepted and waited nervously for the words that were to follow.

"It appears that I may have been mistaken."

"Father?" Thor was shocked by what he was hearing.

"I was wrong." Odin's tone was calm and sincere. "And you were right to disobey me." Thor didn't answer he just stared dumbfounded. He wasn't sure in all the millennia that he had ever heard his father admit a mistake so openly. "But that does not mean that I will condone it happening again, understood?"

"Of course Father."

"You can tell Tony Stark that I apologise for his mistreatment, and that I will not mither him again." Odin turned as if to leave. "I have a wife I must apologise to. Please return to Asgard when you are finished here, you are needed." And as quickly as he appeared Odin disappeared.

Thor scanned around the room, or what was left of it. Dust hung thick in the air and made him feel like choking. He coughed slightly as sirens howled in the street below. Thor counted his teammates as he spotted them and sighed in relief as he saw each of them move to dust themselves off. There was only one missing. Where was Stark? He scanned the room again before spotting an arm protruding from under a pile of rubble. Thor dug through the wreckage frantically. Heimdall took off his helmet and brushed it free from dust. Steve was the first on his feet and over at Thor's side. "Thor?" The God lifted out a limp, unmoving body, caked in layers of blood and dust. Steve's heart skipped a beat. Rhodey was quickly by his side, Natasha stayed and held Clint's weak form, pressing hard around the glass in his shoulder. Tony's head hang limp, his arms splayed. Thor looked around desperately for Bruce who sat slumped against a wall, dazed and confused but thankfully no longer green.

There was a clatter from behind them as men in black burst into the room brandishing weapons. But the Avengers didn't notice. They were focused on one person.

Fury stepped into the room. "What the hell is going on here?"

 _ **God this one was hard to write. I ended up with so many characters in these chapters, because I wanted that big family atmosphere for Tony's return and of course that meant there were so many sides to the scene that I wanted to tell! I also find writing the battle stuff very hard, it never comes down on paper as well as it appears in my head, but hey that's why we practice!**_

 _ **I realise that some of my chapters are story length in their own right, so basically do you like it this way or would you rather have shorter ones? I set up a poll which you can find on my profile, I'd love to know everyone's opinion.**_

 _ **The next chapter is already underway so expect a few more updates before I return to Uni on the 9**_ _ **th**_ _ **of Jan. Still to come… Tony's recovery, learning to control his (many) powers, the team coming to terms with the new Tony and… One hell of a battle.**_


	16. Chapter 16- A lesson in Lies

Chapter 16- A lesson in lies

 _ **Wow for the reviews on that two part-er, thanks so much. Unfortunately I can't keep that pace up for this chapter, it was exhausting just writing it! That being said the slow chapters are equally difficult to write. Happy new year to everyone, let's hope 2017 brings better times for all of us. Bless you all and hope you enjoy this.**_

Fury had been patient. He had uncharacteristically trusted his team, it wasn't that they were un-trustworthy but he didn't trust anyone. It was his job. But there was no getting round the fact that nobody, but nobody had seen Tony for nearly 5 months and it was damn suspicious. Two hours ago there had been strange energy signatures at Stark tower, he had held back, if Stark really was working on something that could well explain it. He would go round there and demand answers from him later. Then, an hour ago there had been some readings that weren't just similar to the tesseract, but an exact match. A team had been kitted up and marched on Stark tower. But whatever had happened was over, that was made clear by the scorched walls and the scattered rubble but distinct lack of an enemy present. Fury was mad, but what at he wasn't sure yet. He was on a war path and he needed answers. That all changed when he saw the team's faces; when he saw Tony Stark.

"Get the med team up here now!" Fury turned away for a second. His stomach rolled in shock and threatened to empty its contents. What on earth had happened here? Was Stark even breathing? The way Thor was holding him was like he'd just dug a corpse out of the rubble. Rhodey moved forward and took his friends limp head, helping Thor to lower him gently back to the floor.

Medics flooded the room and dissipated across its occupants. Two fingers were pressed against Tony's pale neck, a cheek hovered above his mouth, eyes pointed down his chest, looking, listening and feeling for any signs of life. The whole room held its breath. Clint swatted away a medic who stood in his line of sight. All eyes were in the billionaire's unmoving figure. Tony's medic was a picture of concentration. The room prayed. The medic nodded and sighed in relief, the room sighed with him.  
"We have a pulse." A cloud of medics descended to Tony's side and gently loaded him onto a stretcher.

"Get him on the Quinjet asap, I want him treated at SHIELD."

"I don't think so Fury." Pepper marched into the room, followed by Eric and Jane. "Tony is not leaving this building."

"Miss Potts, SHIELD has some of the best medical facilities in the country…"

"And Stark tower has _the_ best." Pepper folded her arms and stood firm. "Why would you want to move a critical patient half way across the city when you don't even need to use the stairs?"

"Fine but I want my medics present." Fury couldn't believe it, but he felt backed into a corner. They were hiding something, they all were and Pepper was blocking his every attempt to find out what.

"I think we'll manage fine thank you, now gentlemen if you would please follow me." To Fury's disbelief the SHIELD medics followed Pepper into the elevator without so much as looking back at their boss. Clint had to try very hard not to giggle at Fury's lack of power, but an elbow from Natasha soon put pay to that.

Rhodey jogged a few steps to catch up with the departing party but Pepper turned and placed a firm hand on his chest.

"Pepper, I…"

"I know you want to go with him, but you were in that fight too and if you were stood in this spot you'd be the one insisting everyone gets treated."

"Honestly Pep I'm fine."

"No you're not Rhodey, get checked over have a few hours sleep and then you can come and see him." She pushed a button and the elevator doors slid closed.

After a stunned moment of silence Fury turned to the remainder of his team.

"I should be demanding answers from you all right now. The last thing I should be doing is giving you time to get your stories straight. That being said half of you aren't a fit state to be debriefed right now but I will be back here at 0900 tomorrow and I better get the truth, understood?" The room nodded weakly in response. They were all too exhausted to speak, physically but more so emotionally. Clint and Natasha sat still while the medics checked them over. Natasha needed a few stitches, but most of the blood she was wearing wasn't her own. Clint was carted out of the room on a stretcher shortly after, the world had become quite hazy for him as the blood loss became increasingly severe. Now, with strong painkillers running rife through his system, he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer and he slipped into unconsciousness.

Bruce was fine but exhausted, all he needed was his bed and he needed it now. Natasha walked slowly over and slipped his arm over her shoulder. They stumbled across the room a short way, but Bruce's nearly dead weight was too much for the exhausted little spider. Thankfully a stronger pair of arms intervened as Heimdall noticed the struggle of his new comrades.

Steve was in need of a bit more than stitches but he had refused the stretcher. It felt wrong when other members of his team were so badly hurt. He was covered in scorch marks and was beginning to notice the prickling heat of burns underneath his suit as well as the throbbing pain in his head. Thor took the arm of the ailing captain and before long the crumbling ruins of the penthouse communal room were left empty.

….

"So…" Stark Tower med bay was eerily quiet. It was now well into the evening, many hours had passed since the battle and the sun had long since set over the city, but with the harsh white lighting in the windowless room it was impossible to tell what time of day it was. Clint had come round about an hour ago and had already started to get bored, which was really not helping the overwhelming tension in the room. Natasha, Clint, Bruce and Steve were sat, in what was an overly large room for just 4 beds and only Clint's was actually occupied. The others were sprawled across various chairs and prickling with nervous energy. They were all exhausted, but sleep was practically impossible, their minds were all focused on one thing. Thor was saying goodbye to Jane and Eric, Heimdall was god knows where, probably not far from Thor, he didn't half look and feel out of place out of place on earth even next to Thor which was an achievement in itself thought Bruce. Rhodey had done as commanded by Pepper and they were now both outside Tony's room down the corridor. Nobody was allowed in yet, they were too busy trying to get him stable. Bruce felt like he should be there, but there was really no point. Pepper had some of the best Doctors in the country in that room so Bruce really wasn't needed, which only served to make him feel completely useless.

"What are we going to tell Fury?" Steve threw the question into the room to break the ice. They didn't have an awful lot of time before Fury would be breathing fire down their necks and expecting some answers, but he supposed that's what you need to expect when you've managed to pull the wool over the eyes… eye… of _the_ super spy for near as damn it 5months.

"We can't tell him the truth." Bruce answered immediately.

"Why not?" Steve shuffled upright in his chair and turned to Bruce.

"Because SHIELD can't be trusted." Bruce said it so clam and placidly that the others couldn't help be confused.

"Can't be trusted? When has Fury ever let us down?"

"Steve, no offence but you've only met the man what… three times and have you forgotten he was trying to make weapons out of the tesseract?"

"Bruce, if this is about that cage…" Natasha understood how Bruce must be feeling and she was the always the first to be mistrusting, but by the large, she had to say that Fury was ok even if he always had a hidden agenda

"Maybe it is maybe it isn't, the fact is if that Tony is now probably even more powerful than the Hulk, do you really think Fury is just going to leave him alone?"

"But Bruce, that's exactly what SHIELD had done for you, left you alone." Bruce raised his eyebrows. "Ok mostly left you alone."

"I know Natasha, but the fact is even if Fury's intentions are good SHIELD is not secure, Tony has proved how easy it is to hack."

"Can I just ask, why aren't we waiting to talk to Tony about this? Or at least the two people who know him best? They are literally just down the corridor." Clint had a very valid point

"Because Fury will be here in…" Steve looked around for any means of telling exactly what time it was but couldn't find a single one "well, soon and we have to have something to tell him that's at least vaguely truthful."

"Steve, I'm sorry but this really isn't our decision to make. Its Tony's life!"

"Yes, but as far as I can gather Tony's not going to wake up any time soon." The Captain barked back.

Bruce sighed and put his head in his hand. "Steve's right."

"But there's no reason we can't talk to Rhodey or Pepper?"

"They're too close to this. We are all in truth, but it has to be down to us." Natasha made eye contact with Clint and the two reached a silent understanding.

The room paused in contemplation for a moment.

"Ok," Clint piped up, "What should we do then."

"I stand where I did before." Bruce stated.

Natasha hesitated, it was unlike her, but this was a big decision. "I think Fury will find out eventually…" She took a breath and looked across at Steve who was listening intently. "But I don't think it's us he needs to find out from. Tony may be in no fit state now but it's his secret, whether he keeps it or gives it up is up to him, so for now as his friends it is our job to keep it."

Bruce smiled and Clint nodded in agreement. "What she said."

Steve bowed his head slightly, he couldn't help but feeling that they were making the wrong decision, yes he wanted to protect Tony but he hated dishonesty and there had been more than enough of that these past 5 months. His Team had voted however, and he had to accept their decision. For now. "That's settled then. Now we need to figure out what exactly we are going to tell Fury."

"I vote Natasha does the talking, even Fury can't tell if she's lying." Clint threw his hand in the air like a child.

"Great idea Clint, because that will make it completely obvious that we are trying to deceive him!" Natasha shot back. "It needs to be Steve." The whole room turned and stared her in confusion. "Fury would never expect him to lie and certainly not well enough to fool him."

"Natasha, I couldn't fool anyone even if I wanted to, especially not Fury."

"I can teach you that's not a problem, right now we need to get our stories straight."

"Are we seriously going give Steve lying lessons and then put him in front of the king of spies?" Clint said with a smile on his face.

"Looks like." Bruce smirked. This plan was so utterly ridiculous that it just might work.

"I think I've got it." Natasha pulled her chair into the room further.

"This better be good." Clint pushed himself up on his good shoulder onto the edge of his bed.

"Clint, I _am_ good."

…

"I'm at a loss where to begin." Fury stood in the centre of the room glaring at his Avengers. "Let's start with recent events shall we? Why did I detect the energy signature of the tesseract in Stark tower earlier today?"

" Well that's how it got here.

"What got here Clint, it may have escaped your notice but I wasn't actually present during your little escapade."

"The destroyer."

"The destroyer? That thing from New Mexico last year?" Clint nodded in response. "Why on Earth would the Asgardians send that?"

"It was something Tony's been working on." Steve took over as planned. "None of us really have a clue what he's been doing but he triggered something, some sort of weird energy and the Asgardians had seen it before. They associate it with something hostile so assumed that was under attack. Odin sent the destroyer to evaluate the situation."

Fury stroked his chin in contemplation. It was all fitting so far, they had detected an energy not long before the tesseract had come into play. "Ok, so Thor and the other Asgardian, what were they doing here?"

"They were sent through to, I dunno, help the destroyer, like that thing needed any help." Clint threw his good arm up in the air in his usual childish show of indignance. Nice touch Natasha thought, but her face didn't change.

"So why did it attack if it was sent here to evaluate?"

"I think it was Tony, he'd finally come out of his lab and was covered in whatever energy the destroyer was after so it blasted him. I came in to see him flying across the room and called the others into action. Thor and the other Asgardian, Heimdall helped, to be honest I don't think we would have come out of it so well if they hadn't." Fury scrutinised Steve's every word, every facial expression, but all he could see was genuine. There was a deep and real anguish at the previous day's events and a sense of guilt that Fury couldn't quite see place for, but perhaps that would become clear.

"Ok, details I want complete overview of the battle, strategies, any weaknesses of this destroyer." This part was easy for the avengers, with the exception of the end of the battle they could just tell the truth and even that they could twist and make it nearly so.

Steve did most of the talking from this point, Clint and Natasha chipped in every now and again with details from their own point of view but Bruce really didn't need to speak. He had hulked out and remembered very little of the battle, which as usual made him exempt from answering many questions. It was strange however that Bruce did actually remember an abnormally large amount of the battle on this occasion.

"So I think we were all down at the end, apart from Thor and Heimdall… right on cue." Steve finished abruptly.

"Apologies for my tardiness director." Thor strode into the room and took his seat with his team mates. "I had some things to take care of."

"Ok Thor, and where is your shiny gold friend? I have some questions I would like to ask him."

"I'm afraid Heimdall returned to Asgard but moments ago, the longer he is away from his post the more danger is posed to Asgard."

"Hmmm. Well, I am told by the others that you were the only one of them to witness the end of the battle."

"Indeed that was so. After the others had fallen I too was rendered helpless at the mercy of the destroyer, but my father intervened. The destroyer was returned to Asgard and he came but for a moment to apologise for the mistake. The destroyer was under no orders to attack earth, merely the energy source which it mistook for our Man of Iron."

"And why did it take your father so long to notice the fact his destroyer was practically killing my avengers?" Fury was annoyed and not even trying to hide it.

"I'm afraid without talking to my father I could not comment further."

"Right ok, well you've cleared that all up nicely." Fury's voice was still raised and Steve tried hard not to swallow, praying that Fury had bought they're story. The worst part of lying was the fear of being found out.

"But there is one thing you have failed to mention…" Steve forced himself to breathe normally, nerves ate at Bruce's stomach, but Clint, Thor and Natasha seemed awfully relaxed.

"Why on earth is Stark lying downstairs practically emaciated? And don't even think about telling me that just happened by magic!"

Steve hung his head, half in relief but mainly to continue his act. Natasha put a supporting hand on Steve's shoulder, another nice touch she thought to herself.

"It's not your fault Steve." She said softly.

"It is Natasha, if I hadn't…"

"Yes, yes this is all lovely passing the guilt around but please do skip to the part where I understand." Fury folded his arms and set his eyes on Steve.

"Well Tony was working on something big and before you ask we have absolutely no clue what."

"He wouldn't even give me a hint." Bruce held his hands up in a shrug.

"Anyway, we kept dragging him out of his lab to make sure he got some rest, but it became more and more difficult. He wasn't eating, he could barely stand and I, well, I got a bit angry. I went on at him about the fact he was an Avenger and he had a responsibility to be ready for battle at all times, I told him he was a liability, but I mean, how did he expect to protect the earth when he was falling over his own feet?"

"I'm assuming Stark didn't take it so well."

Clint scoffed at Fury's response. "Understatement of the century."

"He locked down the lab, turned off Jarvis and well, I don't think any of us saw him face to face for… What? Three months." There was a general nod of agreement

"Face to face?"

"He'd video call me quite a bit." Bruce replied.

"And why then, was I not informed of any of this?" Fury was beside himself, how could this have happened? How could have things gone so far as to put Tony in this state.

"Honestly Nick, we thought he was ok." Natasha piped up. "He looked fine on the video calls and knowing Stark I though having SHIELD down his neck would only make him strengthen his barricades."

"In hindsight we should have blown a hole in the wall and dragged him out kicking and screaming." Clint folded his arms and sunk down in the chair.

Fury was at a bit of a loss, he was furious, obviously, that the team had kept in the dark, that Stark had been such an idiot, but that was nothing new. He could tell that each of them felt guilty about the fact that they had failed to look after one of their own. The problem was, this was Stark and that meant that Natasha was probably right, in all reality there probably wasn't a lot they could have done differently.

"Ok, well it seems that you all seriously failed to the judge the situation correctly. You all know what Stark is like or if you didn't you sure as hell do now. This should not have happened, someone should have smelt a rat when they hadn't seen Tony for a week yet alone 3months! I don't want anything like this to ever happen again, understood?"

"Yes Sir." The room mumbled in response.

"Dismissed. Get out of here."

The room emptied a little too quickly, each Avenger glad but slightly surprised that they seemed to have got away with it. They walked a little way down the corridor in silence before bursting into a simultaneous fit of laughter.

"I can't believe we got away with that." Clint chuckled in disbelief.

"That was some performance guys! Clint I think you could have won an Oscar. 'Like that thing needed any help' nice touch, it was so you!" Bruce patted the archer on the shoulder as the initial hysterics died down.

"Well, you know Natasha's not the only trained spy. Not a bad effort all round Guys, especially you Cap, I never knew you had it in you!" Clint fist bumped the solider on the arm.

"Yeah, well I had a good teacher." Steve nodded to Natasha.

"Just keep the story as close to the truth as possible, that's the key. That and not blushing every time you lie Steve, it's kind of a giveaway." Steve's cheeks reddened instantly and everyone chuckled at their bashful leader.

"Ok, let's go see if Tony is up to visitors." Bruce injected some

"I'll second that."

…..

Natasha needed up watching Tony through that night, it should have been Pepper, and well it would have been Pepper if she hadn't passed out from exhaustion a few hours earlier. Rhodey was playing a thousand and twenty questions with Thor. Stark's medics had told them that Tony was fine, but even if he was getting better and fast, Natasha looking at him now realised how much of the lie that was. His skin looked as thin and delicate as tissue paper, drawn tightly over protruding bones as the rest had simply been eaten away. Every breath was a fight, and they came as rapidly as the frantic beatinng of his heart, which was working overtime, its sole purpose to keep him alive. He was so unbearably still and fragile that Natasha barely dared to breathe around him, in case a simple shift the air caused a ripple that would shatter him.

Steve could only glance into the room as he walked past the door. He carried on to the kitchen where he opened the fridge and then stopped, suddenly he wasn't hungry any more, in fact he wanted to be sick, he had only ever seen one man looking that bad before and that had been in a concentration camp in the middle of the war. He barely recognised Tony. That drug had ravaged his body seemed to have destroyed everything he was and turned him into a ghost. He bypassed his meal and carried on to his bedroom. He didn't sleep.

Three more days passed, though to the team it felt like years. Tony had been gaining weight quickly, the pallor of his skin changed slowly from deadly pale to ghostly white and finally some yellow crept in to his complexion. He still looked like hell, but they all knew what was to thank for his quick recovery. They also knew that the same thing was responsible for him being in this state in the first place.

To Bruce this was a pure relief, he was way out of his depth here, the team treated him like a doctor and yes he was but not of medicine, he was a bloody physicist. Yes he knew stuff, probably enough to get him a most of the way to a medical degree, but this was beyond anyone's comprehension and the fact the person lying on that bed was his best friend, made it all the more difficult to deal with. Tony hadn't stirred once, he'd not so much as flinched. The rising of his ribs was so noticeable under his translucent skin but under the mountain of blankets you could barely tell if he was breathing at all. The only sign that he wasn't dead had been the rapid beeping of the heart rate monitor which had slowly lowered itself from a rapid 190bpm down to a less concerning 130.

They took it in turns to watch him, two at a time on a strict rota of 2 hour shifts. Bruce, Pepper and Rhodey were the exceptions, they rarely left. Natasha would never forget the look on Rhodey's face when he had finally come to see his friend and realised just how bad things were. Lying amongst the white sheets there was nothing left to the imagination, no dirt or blood to hide the extent of his ailments. Natasha could tell Tony had, had some bad times in his life, more than he would ever talk about. Rhodey's eyes spoke to her, told her unwittingly that he had been there through the worst of it, but this was something else, this was all his worst fears come to pass.

Natasha couldn't believe just how wrong she had been about Tony Stark when they had first met. She had never misread someone so badly and even now, she knew there was so much she still didn't know and perhaps she never would.

Now they just had to play the waiting game, but she couldn't help but wonder if it would be the same Tony that returned to them. There was only so much hell that one person could take, and Tony had, had more than his fair share. Yet if there was one thing she knew about their teammate, their friend, was that he was stronger than any of them could ever know, and if there was anyone who could come through this with his sarcastic wit untouched it was Tony Stark.

….


	17. Chapter 17- Safe

Chapter 17- Safe.

 **Wow, I kind of disappeared for a while there didn't I. Worry not, I have returned. Uni and the racing season took over my life, but exams are over and here comes the summer hols so hopefully be churning out a few more chapters.**

 **I can't promise to be regular on my updates all the time, but just know that however long the hiatus I will never leave a story unfinished! Nice long chapter to get back into the swing of things.**

The quiet was the first thing he noticed, he had been trapped in silence for so long, but this time it was different. It was peaceful and calm, not desolate and cold like it was before. He felt the softness underneath his shoulders, he was warm and comfy. But there was pain, a lot of pain. His entire body ached, it spread through him and made him want to gag.

It pulsed through him in cycles, a regular rhythm that had him tensing in anticipation of the next wave. How could he make it stop? There was a brief flash of light as his eyelids fluttered open, he was expecting bright and clinical, but it wasn't. It was soft and oh so familiar, it felt safe. Was he finally safe?

Again the pain spiked. Sharp, dull, sharp, dull and sharp again. It seemed to come with the rise and fall of his chest, so he stopped it.

Then the beeping started.

…..

Bruce's head was cloudy, he was so very tired. But something was pulling him out of his sleep, something important, but what? It was a noise, something familiar, couldn't it wait? He just wanted 10 more minutes, or 20, hell he wanted a whole day in bed. Yet something told him that he couldn't ignore it. So, he had to wake up. Was that a beeping? But a beeping meant something… Shit!

The alarms at Tony's bedside were ringing. What was happening?

Heart rate? High but yeah that's nothing new. So, blood pressure? Ermm, not _too_ bad… Oxygen levels? Oooh that was low, that was very low. What?

He looked down at his friend brow furrowed in concern. He wasn't breathing.

"Tony!" the bleeping intensified as Tony continued to lay deathly still. His eyelids flickered oh so briefly.

Bruce gently held his shoulder "Tony! Breathe. Tony! Wake up."

Tony let out a gasp and his eyes snapped open. Bruce let out his own breath in relief.

"It's good to see you mate."

Tony blinked and panted in confusion. He was in his room, how was he in his room? His whole body was burning, it wouldn't stop, and he wished it would stop. He couldn't bare it, he couldn't take this anymore.

Bruce grabbed his phone and quickly hit dial. Pepper picked up. "He's awake." Bruce glanced back at Tony, he looked groggy and confused. "Well, only just but if you come up and just sit with him that should be fine." Bruce knew what Tony needed, he needed people around him, familiar people. He needed to feel safe. That's why he had moved Tony into his room once his vitals had settled. Tony hated hospitals, Bruce sure as hell wasn't going to have him wake up in one. Not after what he had been through.

The memories came flooding back to Tony as the clouds lifted from the corners of his mind. But the pain wouldn't leave. He wanted to cry out, yet he was trying so hard not to. The room was filling with his friends. Pepper was holding his hand, that usually made everything ok but it didn't this time, it couldn't, not when it hurt like this.

Pepper ran her fingers through Tony's hair. He looked so much more like himself now, no longer as thin as rake and his skin, although still pale, made him look just under the weather rather than the living dead. But something was wrong.

"Tony?" He usually relaxed at her touch and at her voice, but he looked so tense and where were the wisecracks? No matter how bad things got there were always the wisecracks.

"Tony honey, you're ok, just relax." Tony looked at her and pushed his head back into the pillow

"Is everything ok Pep." Natasha was as astute as ever. They had all stayed back for the moment and she couldn't see Tony from where she was, but there was a change in Peppers body language that she could see.

"Ermm I think something's wrong." Bruce snapped back into action from the corner of the room. All the vitals were, well still not ideal, but so much better than they had been mere hours ago. He had no baseline to base anything off.

"Tony sweetie, can you tell us what's wrong?" Pepper looked deep into Tony's eyes, every muscle in his body was tense, and his breaths were quick and shallow. Was he panicking? "Tony its ok you're safe, it's ok."

Natasha pushed her way forward while holding the others back. She took one glance "Tony are you in pain?" She knew the answer, he was trying to hide it but he was in agony.

Tony closed his eyes, his jaw clenched as he tried to form his words. There was silence for a few moments. "It burns." Tony choked on his words, he writhed and panted, no longer having the strength to fight it anymore.

"Bruce…"  
"I… I… I can't, he's had so much already. Tony I'm so sorry!"

"But Bruce he's in agony."

"I know… I know, but whatever I'm giving him just isn't working, if I give him more I could kill him. With the CAEB it's an unknown variable."

"Just try something!" Clint clasped his hands to his head. The sight of his friend writhing in agony… again was killing him inside.

"It's fine." Tony choked again and squeezed his eyes closed.

"No it's not Tony!" Steve shouted and the shock of it silenced the room for a moment. He couldn't watch this anymore. His eyes stung and prickled as he tried to hold back the tears. He turned his back and pushed his way out of the room. Natasha went after him.

Tony groaned and the room's stomachs turned again. The intense bleeping from the monitors instilled further panic as his heart rate began to climb and rapidly.

Suddenly voices were raised and questions flew around the room, bombarding Bruce, for answers he didn't have.

"Get Out!" Bruce yelled and the room hushed instantly. Even the monitors seemed to obey and even looked at him warily for the faintest hint of green.

"Just get out all of you, I can't hear myself think!" The team began to shuffle out of the room, Pepper looked pleadingly into Bruce's eyes and he nodded to indicate that she could stay.

"Not you Thor." The blond god had almost left the room before Bruce called his attention. "You might be able to help" Thor nodded and settled back into a chair in the far corner of the room, eager not to get in the way.

Pepper looked Thor up and down, he looked worn out, drained. Not physically, Of course, Pepper doubted that Thor had ever looked weak, but emotionally there were cracks running through him like they would a shattered mirror just managing to hold itself together.

Pepper let go of Tony's hand for a moment and pulled her hands towards her face, but recoiled in shock at the sight of blood. "God!"

"What, What is it?" Bruce's attention snapped away from the screens, having set Jarvis running another set of scans. He saw Pepper's outstretched hands and saw the blood. His heart skipped. Where was it coming from?

Pepper looked fine, but she had been holding Tony's hand. Bruce took Tony's wrist and gently prised open his tightly clenched fist, to reveal some small but deep half-moon cuts sliced into his palms. His finger nails were stained with his own blood where he had burrowed them into the flesh in an attempt to distract himself from the burning that racked his entire body.

"Oh Tony!" Bruce sighed, filling his friends hands with tissue before letting them snap back into their vice-like clamp. "Tony, you've got to try and relax." Tony was still conscious but far from able to talk anymore, he responded instead by throwing back an incredibly dirty look.

"I know buddy I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry, but if you fight it you are only going to make it worse. Just breathe, ok? Breathe." Tony started panting again, trying to calm himself down. His hands slowly uncurled and the rest of his body gradually sank a bit deeper into the bed.

"Better?"

Tony jerked his head to the side slightly, as if to say 'a little'. "Good."

With his friend a bit calmer Bruce could get back to concentrating on finding the source.

"I'm sorry Bruce," Pepper paused, leaving him the option to ignore her if he needed to, but he turned his head slightly and nodded allowing her to continue. "Are his injuries causing this?" She continued softly.

"Ermmm… No." Bruce replied distractedly. "No Pepper. His injuries are nearly healed, that's why this doesn't make sense. He should be sore, really sore but not in agony. I think this has something to do with the CAEB. If you just give me a …" One of the screens bleeped signifying Jarvis had completed his scan.

"Jarvis what are you reading?"

"If anything the sedative is increasing CAEB activity, Sir's body is recognising the substance as an attack and is trying to fight it."

"Shit." Bruce grabbed the morphine line and pulled the plug.

"Doctor Banner!" Thor jumped to his feet instantly. "Is that wise?"

"Nope." Bruce place his hand on Tony's shoulder. "I'm so sorry Tony, I think this has got to get worse before it gets better."

…

To make a pleasant change from tradition things didn't get worse. In fact, only a few minutes after the morphine was unplugged Tony could feel the burning slowly leave his body. He wanted to cry. Finally it was over. For a moment he felt fantastic, then the initial euphoria subsided and he was left with a dull ache, that soreness which Bruce had promised. But it was satisfying in a way, it felt just like it did after a good battle, he was a bit bashed around but no real damage. In comparison to what it had been just minutes ago however it felt like nothing more than an annoying nettle sting.

"Thank you Bruce." Tony moved to sit up but Thor's two strong arms gently pinned him back into the mattress.

"Don't thank me Tony, I'm the reason you were in pain in the first place."

"Seriously Bruce, you're going to blame yourself?" Pepper looked at him astounded.

"I should have done more checks."

"Bruce nobody understands what the hell I am right now, so any checks you could do would just mean nothing. And seriously Goldilocks get off me I'm fine now."

"You should take it easy, you have been out of it for nearly two weeks."

"Yeah exactly, I've been in bed for two weeks so it's about time I got my ass out of it."

Thor looked at Bruce for instruction as Tony tentatively began to shuffle himself to the edge of the bed, discarding the duvet carelessly on the floor in the process. Bruce's brow crumpled and he let out a sigh of frustration. It looked like Tony was back to his old ways already and there really was no point fighting it. Tony probably felt amazing right now after what he'd just been through, but he was far from 100%. He'd let him figure that out by himself.

Bruce gave a little nod to Thor as Tony paused at the edge of the bed, seemingly testing his legs. They felt ok, he thought? He tried a bit more weight, the last thing he wanted was to end up flat on his ass and prove Bruce right. It took a few seconds for Tony to load all the weight onto his arms and then let go of the bed. He swayed ever so slightly at first but then stood arms outstretched with a cheeky triumphant grin spreading across his face. "See, piece of cake. Pepper rolled her eyes and Thor stayed close enough to catch the wobbly genius should he lose his balance.

"Hmmm, speaking of cake I'm bloody starving." Tony walked slowly but confidently now into the lift. "Jarvis kitchen!"

"Ermm Tony hang on… You haven't had solid food for 5months."

"Then I think it's about time I had some!"

"Well, yes but No! Tony, No!"

"Which is it?"

"We've been through this, don't you remember? We have to start you off gently otherwise at the very least you'll throw it back up and have horrendous stomach cramps."

"I get it, soft stuff, right? Cake is soft. Jarvis I want Cake!"

"Yes Sir, but…"

"No but's, order in a tonne of cake."

"Tony, when I said start you off gently, I meant…"

The lift hissed softly as the door slid open revealing the penthouse kitchen and a sea of worried faces.

"Tony oh My God!" Clint tried to jump up, but was reminded instantly of his own un-healed wounds.

The last thing Clint and Rhodey had been expecting as they watched the lift approaching had been Tony himself. They hadn't heard anything since Bruce told them to leave and Natasha and Steve still hadn't got back.

"What are you doing up?" Rhodey was more than a bit pleased to see his skinny and slightly pasty friend.

"It's all cool now, they figured out what was wrong." Tony waved his hand in Bruce and Jarvis' direction.

"Tony you should be resting." Pepper practically ran to him and gently tried to guide him to the sofa.

"Nah Pep, I'm ok I'll sit down I just want to move about for a bit" Pepper nodded in understanding.

Rhodey pulled Bruce to one side and Clint slowly got up so he could hear the conversation whilst Tony hobbled around the kitchen.

"Should he be up?" Rhodey demanded

"There's nothing really wrong with him, most of his injuries have healed, but he'll be sore and feel a bit bashed about…"

"So what was all that in his room?" Rhodey interrupted.

"It's this CAEB thing, I really don't know what I am dealing with here. It was reacting to the pain relief, fighting it in some way, trying to reject it from his body. It was like a poison to him."

"So that's why he was in pain?" Clint joined in and Bruce nodded in response.

"Will there be any lasting damage?"

"No, I don't think so. Not with his rate of healing anyway. But we'll have to be careful what we give him, medicines, pain relief, alcohol, any of it could be toxic to him or just plain ineffective."

"Thor is there anything that you know about this?" Pepper came back from watching Tony, satisfied that he wasn't going to do anything stupid for now.

"I am so sorry my friends, but all I have learned I have shared with you already."

"It's ok Thor, seems like you've had difficulties of your own figuring out that much." Pepper patted him lightly on the shoulder.

Rhodes was keen to get back to solving the problem, "Right so morphine can be added to the…

"Oi Brucie! I can have water right?" Tony called from the kitchen, glass poised under the tap in readiness.

"Yes Tony." Bruce nodded to Rhodey to continue

"So morphine can be added to the no list."

"Yes, I think so."

"But didn't you give him some morphine when he just got back from Asgard?"

"Yes, I did." Bruce pondered "and he was fine then, so what…"

"Are you guys talking about me?" Tony was now sat on a stool spinning round slowly glass of water in hand.

"Yes." Rhodey barked back. "Shut up and drink your water."

"Slowly!" Pepper added.

"So morphine was fine then, so why was it toxic now?

"Yes Mom!" This time they ignored the bored genius and carried on with their conversation.

"... He got better as soon I took out the line…." Bruce snapped his fingers in triumph. "But Morphine wasn't the only thing in that line."

"Right." Rhodey nodded in anticipation and Clint tried to pretend he was keeping up. "What else then."  
"A mild sedative and something anti-seizure as a precaution as he was still showing signs of withdrawal."

"And they were…"

"Ermm, Potassium Bromide definitely and the sedative was something weird, I wouldn't normally use it but we were running out of supplies and I wanted to keep him under for a little bit longer."

"Should I get the charts?" Clint asked

"No, wait a second it's on the tip of my tongue." Bruce grimaced and rubbed his head. "Bromine!"

"You said you would not normally use it, why? Is it dangerous?" Thor asked.

"Not really, well, like any drug yes, if used incorrectly and you don't want to prolong the use of Bromine…"

"Bruce." Pepper jerked him back on track

"Sorry, generally it's a bit old school, it's certainly not a mainstream sedative they don't really use it anymore."

"Hang on Bromine, Bromide, are they the same sort of?" Clint asked

"Bromine is a pure element, Bromide is the name of the ion of Bromine which you find in compound form."

"English" Clint asked.

"Yes, kind of."

"So we've cracked it? Don't give him anything with Bromine in." Clint asked hopefully.

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Clint, it's really not that simple, as far as we know it could be the pure bromine, the potassium Bromide or the mixture of the two. Or the mixture with morphine for that matter. And we've no conclusive proof that it still couldn't be the morphine. With the CAEB it even could be circumstantial."

"You mean, some things might be toxic at one moment and fine the next." Rhodey was keeping up remarkably well, he wasn't thick and after years of trying to follow Tony Stark's genius ramblings you pick up a thing or two on following complicated trains of thought.

"What the hell?" Clint, however not dumb himself, had not had the same experience.

"Yes Rhodey, it could be, or it literally could be anything."

"Well this conversation got us nowhere." Clint sunk back into the sofa

"Well, I can look into the bromine for a start I suppose, otherwise we are just going to have to tread carefully in future."

….

When Steve had shoved his way out of the room, very few of the other's had noticed and if they had they were more concerned about Tony than they had been their leader. Natasha on the other hand had different priorities. She had seen the tears welling in Steve's eyes, she had seen him biting them back, and she had also seen him that day when he wouldn't stop running. Steve was as guilty as Tony on some days for not opening up about his feelings. Hell they were all socially impossible people, who just happened to be getting along.

Right now Tony was surrounded by people and people who knew what they were doing. He didn't need her right now, but Steve needed someone. So she would have to do.

Steve moved fast, even for an agile little spider like herself it was difficult to follow. She nearly lost him at the stairwell but the sounds made it clear that he was headed for the roof. She held back a few minutes before she joined him, sat on a ledge overlooking the city. It still looked like a bombsite, but at least now the construction workers had moved in and the repairs were starting. Giant cranes looked belittled beside the skyscrapers they were dotted between. There was not so much rubble, now, just the odd pile. The city was recovering, slowly.

She waited a minute before she said anything. Steve would need time to collect himself, to be ready to open up. Eventually she shuffled a bit closer and turned to face him, one leg dangling dangerously above the city below.

"So," she started. Steve continued to stare out across the world in front of him. "What would you be saying to me right now if our situations were reversed?"

Steve smiled and bowed his head. "I'd tell you, that you need to talk about it." He chuckled softly.

Natasha smiled back. "Well then," she said brightly, "are you going to take your own advice?"

Steve stopped for a moment, taking deep breath. "Well I suppose I'd look like a bit of a hypocrite if I didn't, wouldn't I?"

"Yes you would." Natasha chuckled back and waited for a response.

"I don't know Natasha, this whole thing, it's… I… uhh…" Steve gave up defeated, his words wouldn't come.

"You blame yourself." Natasha offered a starting point.

"Well yes of course I do."

"But you know it's not your fault right?"

"Yes…" Steve said despondently.

"Well then it's simple. Stop blaming yourself." Steve chuckled at this.

Steve laughed into his hands. "Wow Natasha, you'd make a really great therapist!"

Natasha joined in the laughter. Her eyes really sparkled when she smiled. She didn't do it nearly often enough. "Why thank you." She took a mock bow. "But that's not all is it?"

"No. Honestly I don't feel like I can say it out loud."

"Just say it."

"Natasha…"

"Honestly Steve, there isn't a single one of us who isn't blaming ourselves in some way or another and I know it's a bit worse for you because you are our leader and its effectively your job to taje the blame, but we have all just lived through the same thing; the same crazy frightening thing that none of us understand and we all feel like we are alone. We all feel like Nobody else is feeling what we're feeling, so how on earth can we tell anyone else?" Natasha paused as realisation began to dawn on Steve.

"There is a group of people down there who are all feeling exactly the same way, for slightly different reasons, and who are all bottling it up because they don't think they can talk about it. Can you see how this is going to end?"

"Not well."

"Yes, not well." She put a hand on Steve's shoulder. "You're worried that you're not a good leader, which by the way, I can tell you more honestly than I've ever spoken before in my life, is complete rubbish." She smiled softly and steve offered a weak smile in return. "But you don't want comfort, you want to do something about it. So if you want to lead us, start by leading us into this. We all need to do it. Just tell me what is bothering you."

"Ok Natasha." Steve nodded. "You are wise beyond your years, you know?"

"Quit Stalling!" Steve chuckled.

"Honestly? I'm terrified of him."

"Of Tony?" Natasha understood but was a little bit shocked. She hadn't really expected that from Steve.

"Yes. I know it's bad…"

"No, No Steve it makes perfect sense, I'm not judging."

"Well, he has all this power now, and we've already seen it turn him evil. I know he fought it and I know he used it to save us, but there was nothing we could do to stop him. Logical tells me this is Tony, he's in control and hell, it's hurt him far more than it's hurt us, but this is still Tony. Even if he has got full control he isn't exactly the person you would chose to have these powers is he?" Steve paused, looking for some sort of response but Natasha decided not to say anything just yet.

"I mean, he's reckless, immature, arrogant, self-destructive… a drunk half the time. The list goes on. I agreed that we shouldn't tell Fury, but I can't help feeling that we've made the wrong decision. I mean, this power in Tony's hands could be so, so dangerous. And I saw what he has done for us, in New York, with the destroyer and I know I shouldn't be thinking this, but…" Steve sighed and caught his breath. "It's like there is two Tony Starks, the one who would do anything to save us and the one that could unwittingly kill us all. It's my responsibility to keep earth safe, and I feel I have to keep it safe from one of my own team. I hate myself for thinking this way but…"

Natasha could see that Steve was close to breaking down. He cared so much, and he'd also lost so much. That changes you, makes you incredibly wary. She knew that.

"Look Steve, it's not wrong to feel that way. Do not feel guilty about that. When I was undercover with Stark, I came to exactly the same conclusions as you, he is a liability, not a team player, reckless and the rest of it and I mean I'm trained to notice these things, but I missed something."

"You missed something?" Steve looked doubtful.

"Yes. And I still haven't quite figured it out yet, but you were right when you said there is two Tony's. I'm starting to feel, and I say this in confidence, like there is so, so much that Tony hasn't told anyone. I don't think that I can actually read Stark." That shocked Steve, it shocked him a lot. He knew of Romanov's reputation and had seen it first hand. And for her to admit that to him… well, he didn't know what to think.

Natasha continued, noting Steve's shock. "That first Tony, the reckless, self-absorbed tosser, I think is just a mask and one that he's had for so long I'm not sure even he remembers what he was masking."

"But why Natasha."

"I don't know Steve, but I'm able to read more off Rhodey than I am off Stark. I think he's been through so much more than just Afghanistan and he's become a professional at hiding it."

"You mean that act, all that wit, it's a defence?"

"I think so."

Steve felt a little sick. So all those times he'd attacked Tony's actions and he'd responded with sarcasm and arrogance he'd been really hurting the man, so much that he was putting up a defence that made Steve think he didn't care at all.

"What I am saying is, Steve, that you have every reason to be worried, every reason to fear Tony right now, but I think all those parts of him you have seen and worried about aren't as real as they seem. If you give him time and get to know him, the real him, you might find he surprises you and that he isn't so bad after all."

Steve nodded and took a moment to digest those words. "We should head down and see what news there is."

"Yes we probably should."

…..

When Steve and Natasha emerged from the lift there was quite a discussion going on between the others in the room, which drew their attention. But then a quiet clatter and fast moving object caught Steve's eye.

"Tony? Wha…"

Tony flew out of his stool and hung, doubled over with his head in the sink. It wasn't long before the sound of retching followed.

The conversation ground to a sudden halt as the commotion was heard. Bruce was by Tony's side in an instant while the others resisted the urge to crowd after the earlier outbreak.

A stream of water and bile was all that came out of Tony's mouth. There was nothing else to throw up. He retched painfully for a few minutes before his stomach was finally satisfied that it was empty and then Thor and Steve helped him to the couch.

"You drank it too fast didn't you?" Bruce raised an eyebrow as Tony was lowered, exhausted onto the smooth, soft leather.

"Honestly I tried not to, I was just so damn thirsty."

"Tony, you've got to be…" Bruce held up a hand to hold Pepper back.

"Ok." Bruce understood, the instinct so gulp it down must have been pretty strong.

"If that was going to happen with water you could have at least let me have that cake, then it would have been worth it!"

Bruce chuckled in response and sunk down into the chair opposite. He'd forgotten how tired he was until now, he slid off his glasses and placed them on the chair arm, yawning.

"And hey! I still haven't had that cheeseburger I wanted before the destroyer thingy came."

"Ooh I'd love a cheeseburger right now!" Clint rubbed his stomach with his good arm and leant back into the leathery softness next to Tony.

"No Clint. You're not going to get a cheeseburger just so you can torment Tony with it." Natasha glared at him.

"But Mommm." The whole room burst out laughing.

"Oh there, there feathers, you can always trust Natasha to be the spoil sport." Tony patted Clint on the top of his head.

"Hey tin head I was sticking up for you!" Natasha picked up a pillow and raised it above her head with both arms.

"Nah-ah-ah-ah." Tony crossed his arms defensively across himself, turning his head to the side. "Nope, no throwing things at the injured."

"Give it a week Stark then you're fair game." Natasha lowered her weapon and Tony feigned a melodramatic 'phew', wiping his arm across his forehead and flopping deep into the couch.

"You want to try that water again?" Bruce gently probed.

"Ermm, not particularly." Tony leant forward "but I'm guessing leaving it isn't going to help, right?"

Bruce nodded. "You're a smart man Stark."

"It has been mentioned." Tony grunted as he prepared to lift himself off the couch, but Thor had beaten him to it, handed him a glass.

"Thanks goldilocks."

"I really don't understand that reference."

"Join the Club." Steve patted the seat next to him and Thor obliged.

"That is too much muscle on one couch." Clint whispered to Tony who nearly snorted water everywhere.

"Clint!"

"Sorry."

This time the water went down, slowly, and stayed there. Bruce had fallen asleep on the couch long before it got dark, they had continued to catch up Steve and Thor on life on earth since the 1940's, mainly through film. It was as ever Pepper and Natasha that shepherded the unlikely group of friends to their own floor and saved them from awaking with cricked necks.

They all slept well that night, and it was a trend that continued over the coming weeks. Tony got better and better every day, he started eating, it was a slow and frustrating process but Tony kept in remarkably high spirits.

Natasha didn't know whether to be worried or amazed at Tony's attitude, he was recovering remarkably well, mentally as well as physically. She decided to be the latter, she was going to be optimistic this time and it felt right. With the team tighter than ever everything seemed great. She remembered what she had said to Steve up on the roof, maybe they were starting to see the real side of Tony rather than the mask, and maybe he really was getting through this ok.

It was unlike Natasha to be naïve, in fact, it had never happened before. It was a shame it had to happen at such a crucial time.

With things going so well nobody mentioned the elephant in the room. It felt wrong to, I mean, everything was fine no need to bring it up, right. Why risk ruining a good thing? But they should have, they really, really should have. They didn't realise how badly it would come back to bite them.

 **Can I just say how hard it is to keep track of all your characters in in some scenes? Jeesh! When there's a full house of avengers plus Rhodey and Pepper I don't half get confused! Expect a double update this week since I was so mean in leaving you all this time. Hope you enjoyed.**


	18. Chapter 18- After the rain

**I've had so many new followers since my last update so thanks for your support guys!**

 **Quite a monster chapter for you and your second before the end of the week as promised. This was very difficult to write and I'm a bit nervous about how it's going to go down. Originally I was just going to solider on with the plot and get a lot further in the chapter but I had some really cute little ideas that I just had to get in.**

 **There a fair amount of foreshadowing so don't worry if not everything makes perfect sense just yet. I was going to just get on with the plot in this chapter and move the story forward**

 **Enjoy the fluff at the start, because there are dark times ahead.**

Chapter 18—After the rain

Things had been going well. Too well. Little by little Tony had been getting back onto food. It hadn't been plain sailing, but no one had expected that. The incident with the water had been the first in a long line involving Tony spewing up his guts, but nobody minded. Everyone was looking out for each other, of course the main focus had been on Tony's recovery but everyone was sporting wounds of one form or another.

Pepper had returned to work, and was happy enough to leave Tony in the Avengers care for a fortnight of conferences in Bruges. As had, Rhodey who had somewhat reluctantly accepted an overseas posting for a month, but with Tony having so many people around him for once he felt he didn't need to worry.

Thor knew he was needed at home, but he liked it here, he liked it very much. He honestly felt more at home on Midgard than he ever had on Asgard. Yet the almost constant presence of Hugin and Munnin, demanding to know when the Prince would be travelling home, was starting to wear on him. He knew he had responsibilities on Asgard, he had stayed just to be sure of Stark's wellness, and he had achieved that. He had lingered on out of sentiment, it was time for him to go home.

"Tony." Bruce looked over his newspaper and his voice jerked Thor out of his trance.

"Yep Brucie Boy."

"You Hungry?"

"Always!" Tony looked at the clock. It was only 11am but he seemed to have burned off breakfast hours ago and his stomach was demanding food.

"Well…" Bruce set down his newspaper and got to his feet. "What do you say to getting that long awaited cheeseburger?"

"Seriously!" Tony jumped up like an excited kid.

"Yes, seriously. As long as you…

"Eat slowly, I know I will. Oh my God I've been dreaming of this, I know just the place!" Thor and Bruce chuckled as Tony paced around in excitement. "Clint!" Tony yelled, heading off down the corridor. "Clint! Hurry up Bruce says its Burger time!"

"Seriously." Natasha emerged having heard the commotion. Bruce nodded and went to gather up some things.

"Clint, Steve, come on you're keeping us waiting!" Tony was desperate to leave.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Clint hopped down the corridor pulling his sock on, hair still wet from his shower. "God I can't believe this is finally happening. I've been wanting a burger for weeks!"

"Yeah well I've not had one for 6 months so shut up your moaning!"

"What is going on?" No sooner had Steve opened his mouth than his jacket and shoes were shoved into his arms by Tony, who then proceeded to push him into the elevator. "Hang on Tony, wha…" Steve said, thoroughly confused.

"Bruce said I can have a Burger so we're going to get a burger."

"Now?"

"Yes, now! Everyone in!" Nobody decided to get between Stark and his food.

…..

It wasn't raining when they reached the lobby, it was absolutely pouring it down. A car was waiting out back, away from prying eyes but they were still going to get soaked walking the few steps out in the open.

They practically pushed Tony under an umbrella, the last thing they wanted was him catching a cold, but as soon as he was outside Tony stopped. The smell of the rain, the fresh air in his lungs, it felt amazing. He shivered a little at the drop in temperature, but it was still a warm day. He let the drumming of rain drops hitting the pavement fill his ears and felt the tickle of their splashes on his hands and ankles. The others hurried with jackets over their heads, ducking quickly into the warmth and dry of low key limo. With Steve the only one left to get in he stopped, seeing Tony's hesitation.

"Tony come on! I thought you were starving." Tony backed away from the driver holding the umbrella and stood there in the rain, rejoicing the sensation as the droplets ran across his skin and soaked into his hair and clothes.

"Tony what are you doing?"

"I'll see you guys there, I'm going to walk."

"Tony, its 20 blocks and you'll be soaked!"

"I'll be fine stop mothering me! I just wanna breathe fresh air for a change." Tony turned his back and jogged gently down the street.

Steve poked his head into the car for reinforcements. "Tony's just run off, says he wasn't to walk."

"Is he mad?" Natasha exclaimed.

"Well, yeah we already know that, but this is crazy." Bruce was about to get out of the car to call him back when Clint spoke.

"Guys, think about it. He hasn't been outside since the debrief."

"Oh my God, Clint's right!" Natasha exclaimed.

"Let him walk, Bruce. Let him enjoy it."

"Uhh fine! As long as he doesn't come running to me when he gets sick I don't care!"

…..

Screw it Tony thought. There wasn't anyone watching, they were all inside hiding from the downpour and he hadn't seen the sky for real in months. Soaking wet or not this was the best feeling he had, had in a long time. He skipped joyously down the sidewalk, uncaring and stamped in every puddle he could see, sending water splashing up his pant legs and soaking into his shoes and socks.

Before long he could feel a squelch with every step and he loved it. The rain wasn't going to last long, the sky was already brightening. It was going to be sunny again soon. He didn't even try to resist the urge to swing around a street light, whooping and laughing as he did.

He waved at two astounded passers-by before breaking into a run. He started off slowly but overwhelmed by the sense of freedom he got faster and faster and faster. His feet pounded away on the concrete, sending up a spray behind and soon he was tearing down the sidewalk in full flight. His lungs and legs burned at the shock of exercise, but he was flying and it felt amazing, he was so alive!

He arrived at the restaurant of choice at the same time the car pulled in and the downpour had begun to break. Tony tried to slow down from his gallop on the wet surface but he just went into a slide, his legs went faster than his body and he slipped flat on his back and landed in a huge puddle with an impressive splash.

"Oh My God Tony!" Natasha jumped out of the car and ran to see how badly he was hurt. What she found however was Tony Stark lying in the puddle and panting hard and sobbing with laughter.

"Oh you Crazy bastard!" Natasha shouted and splashed some dirty water into Tony's face as the others joined her to see what had happened. "God you had me worried!" This only made Tony laugh even more and lay back into the puddle which was remarkably deep. The water covered all but his knees, face and chest.

"Oh Tony! Get out of there, your filthy!" Bruce's tone was serious, but his face soon betrayed him as it broke into a smile.

"Honestly Stark you're such a child!" Steve chuckled.

Natasha leant down to offer Tony a hand up and he took it. What he did next shocked everyone. Grabbing Natasha's hand Tony tugged on it hard pulling Natasha off balance and forcing her face down into the puddle.  
"Oh my God you didn't! Clint gasped, knowing all too well what would happen next.

"Aww is feathers shocked that I've got bigger balls than him." Tony taunted and the reaction was exactly what he had hoped for. Just as Natasha began to raise her head out of the dirty puddle Clint kicked a massive spray of water in Tony's direction. Tony of course ducked out of the way and the wave proceeded to flood straight into Natasha's face.

Natasha spat out the dirty water and rubbed it from her fury filled eyes. Clint was stood with his hands clasped over his mouth and nose in horror muttering "What have I done."

"Stark you b…." Clint started but Tony cut him off

"Feathers… RUN!"

The two of them took off across the square followed closely by a flaming streak of Russian fury and they quickly disappeared out of sight.

Ten minutes and five blocks later Thor, Bruce and Steve found their three comrades down a backstreet. Natasha was pinning Clint face down in a pitifully shallow puddle, who was crying "I'm sorry" over and over whilst Tony was hanging off a ledge on the side of building, a few feet out of reach of the Russian pocket rocket.

"Well I hope you two have learnt you lesson." Steve said, standing cross armed. Thor grabbed Tony's legs and lowered him to the ground, earning him a 'thank you Goldilocks' and Steve rescued a now thoroughly soaked Clint from Natasha's grip.

…..

The restaurant owner was very accommodating, providing the soaked avengers with towels to dry the worst off. The sun had come out in its full glory so they decided to sit outside and dry out in the warmth. The meal was incredible, Tony had to try very hard not to wolf it down, but he knew how that ended and he really didn't want that today. All in all it was a wonderful day out, a perfect day though they knew that Natasha would have planned something in revenge for when they returned to the tower. Thor had been going to take the opportunity to announce that he would be leaving, but it didn't seem right to spoil the moment.

"God this is the best damn Burger I have ever tasted!" Tony threw himself back in his chair, almost tipping it but Thor, seated next to him, returned it to rest safely on four legs.

"I honestly can't believe it's been 6 months since New York." Steve shook his head.

"It's so weird, six months ago none of us new each other, in fact, we didn't get on at all really did we." Bruce remembered.

Clint chuckled "And I was bat shit crazy under Loki's spell and trying to kill you!"

"Seriously though, how did we end up saving the world? The first thing me and Thor did was attack each other, only Natasha really trusted Clint when he came around, Bruce is well… Bruce, I was being an absolute knob half the time…"

"Most of the time." Natasha corrected.

"Fair enough…" Tony continued "Steve is the only exception, everyone loved him…"

"Apart from you Stark," Steve reminded

"Yes granted. And yet, despite all of that and the hell I've thrown at you in the past 6months now we're all living together."

"We must be mad." Clint nodded.

"Truly." Thor concurred.

"Speaking of the last 6months, how on earth did you and Pepper keep the Company running all this time with my lack of appearances. Don't tell me nobody got suspicious."

"Ermm well about that…" Bruce began.

"Oh why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this?" Tony slumped in his chair.

"Well, the official story is that you are close to discovering something huge, so you've been working night and day and haven't had time for anything else."

"You are kidding me."

"I'm sorry. But it was the best cover we could think of." Natasha shrugged.

"So I'm going to have to come up with something amazing in a matter of days or people will smell a rat."

"Pretty much." Bruce bit his lip.

"Oh great!" Tony exclaimed "I suppose I'll have to dig something out something I made years ago from the archives."

"Wait, you have inventions that aren't out there already?" Clint asked

"Of course I do, not everything I've made the world is ready for yet. I have to hold some things back or I'll start another war."

The others just looked at him, shocked for a second. Even after selling weapons and having a reputation as being completely irresponsible, Tony had always been thinking about the impact his inventions would have on the world.

Then Tony saw them. He couldn't place their faces, but he knew that he'd seen them before. Something in his head was telling him he should look away, forget that he'd seen them and not give himself the chance to remember. But it was too late, his interest was piqued and he ignored the little warning bells in the corner of his mind.

There were two faces, an elderly woman and man, obscured behind the frosted glass of the store front across the square. The door swung open and the woman emerged first, her head bowed as her eyes adjusted to the bright sunshine outside. Tony couldn't see her face, but he was now certain that there was something familiar about the couple.

The man stepped out of the door next, hands full of shopping bags he too squinted into the sunlight. But unlike his wife the man felt eyes watching him and looked across the square to where the Avengers were sitting.

Oh God, no. It wasn't. It couldn't be. But it was. The hands of age had done their work, lines now crossed the faces of the couple he was watching, but underneath the veil of time they were still the same two faces. Why now? Why? Tony suddenly felt very sick to the pit of his stomach. He had to leave, they couldn't see him. But it was too late, the man was staring right at him. Had he been recognised? Twenty years had passed and surely that would act in Tony's favour. But evidently that was not the case. The man gently grabbed his wife's arm and drew her attention to their observer across the street. She gasped in disbelief and put her hand over her mouth.

Memories started flooding back, more real than ever before, the emotion hit him like a brick wall.

"Tony are you ok?" Steve, who was sat directly opposite, had noticed Tony suddenly go deathly pale.

"Oh no, Code 9! I think he's going to hurl." Clint's voice put everyone on battle stations. There had been enough of these instances over the past month for everyone to know what they were doing. It was Steve that this time found a suitable receptacle, grabbing an empty flower pot and pulling the table aside ready for the inevitable.

But instead Tony jumped up and staggered backwards.

"Tony?" Natasha asked in alarm. His chair tipped over sideways and the legs tripped him as he continued to retreat. He landed heavily on his coccyx but didn't flinch. He sat there stunned for a moment and the Avengers just stared in confusion.

"His eyes!" Natasha was the first to notice and the gasp was involuntary. Sure enough Tony's eyes were bright blue. The team recoiled and braced, ready to defend themselves instinctively.

Tony's eyes returned to deep brown and he gasped for air in shock. He stayed on the floor for a second, panting in shock and clearly not aware of his surroundings. Bruce instantly moved towards his friend, but the others stayed frozen, wary of approaching. Tony was on his feet in a flash and disappeared down a nearby street. Bruce was hot on his heels, holding up a hand to stop the others. They just continued to stare in shock, taken aback by what had just happened. And that was the question. What had just happened?

Tony curled into the corner of a dead end alley and buried his face into the wall. He needed to feel something solid, something that was real. When Bruce found him, his panting breaths were close to sobs and he was rocking himself back and forth. For a second Bruce was taken aback, he didn't know what to do. He didn't know what exactly was wrong. But he realised that Tony didn't need him in doctor mode right now, he needed a friend.

Bruce grabbed Tony from behind and pulled him into his arms. He wasn't sure exactly why, he was acting on instinct right now and it would have to do.

He just held Tony while he came back down to earth. It's what he wished people did for him when he was coming back from hulking out and he just hoped that it was right for Tony.

"It's ok, Tony, Its ok. Just breathe. You're safe. Everything is fine."

"It's not fine. It's never going to be fine, it's never _been_ fine. Not since that day."

"Shhh Tony, Shhh." Tony was still out of it. Bruce was going to ignore his ramblings for now, but he wasn't going to forget them. How could he? The raw emotion in Tony's voice frightened him, the utter despair was almost tangible.

Tony's arms were crossed tightly across his chest and Bruce shifted his hand to lay it over his friends. And then it hit Bruce, like a wave that forced the air from his lungs and pressed down like a heavy weight, crushing him. Bruce gasped, tears welled in his eyes. God it hurt! It hurt so much!

It had just been for a moment, but it was a moment he would never forget. The emotion that overwhelmed him, that pain and despair, was worse than anything he had ever felt. And Bruce knew despair, he knew it well.

Was that was Tony was feeling? Had it just transferred to him somehow?

"Oh Tony!" Bruce nearly sobbed. "Tony, I'm here. You're not alone." Bruce couldn't even force himself to say that everything was ok. It wasn't, not if that was what Tony was feeling. Bruce had never seen the man so vulnerable, and considering what they had just witnessed him go through that was frightening in itself.

It was a few more minutes before Tony's breathing levelled and tried to move out of Bruce's embrace. Bruce looked into his eyes. He didn't seem to remember, didn't seem to know what he had just said. But he evidently did remember what had happened at the restaurant.

"Thanks Bruce." Tony took a deep breath and put a hand on the ground to push himself up.

Bruce put his hand on Tony's shoulder before he had chance to stand.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Tony looked confused like he was trying to figure that out himself. "It's ok if you can't." Bruce continued, his voice calm and level.

"No… it's… I thought I saw someone, some people I used to know then I remembered some stuff that… I don't want to talk about it. It was… err it wasn't nice." He shook his head and his breathing started to increase. "That wasn't funny."

"I know Tony, but it's over for now, ok?" Tony looked up at Bruce and started to calm down again. "So I'm guessing that CAEB amplified whatever you were feeling."

"It had to be, it was like a nightmare, like I was trapped in my own past."

"Ok, well we'll look into it, ok? And in the meantime if you need to talk I'm here, but I'm not going to force you."

Tony patted his friend on the shoulder in thanks. "Tony I really need you to understand that I will never force you to do anything."

The two just looked each other in the eye. There was no need for words.

"I want to go home now."

"No problem."

"Hey guys," Clint said hesitantly as the others peered round the corner. "Is everything ok?"

"Yes, I'm good, sorry about that Guys, trust me to ruin the day."

"No Tony it's…" Clint started

"Don't say its fine, I freaked you out, sorry, but hey I kept that burger down." Tony smiled and it somehow put everyone back at ease. Everyone apart from Bruce. Then as if on cue Tony retched and spilled said burger all over Bruce's shoes.

"Spoke too soon Stark." Thor chuckled

"Fuck!" Tony buried his head in his hands.

"Language!" Steve's voice was quiet. Tony tried to lift his head from his hands but he didn't seem to have the strength. He was absolutely exhausted and he really didn't want to see the look on his friends faces again. The shock and nervousness was written there as plain as day. They were scared of him. The avengers were afraid of Tony Stark and they had every right to be. But it didn't stop it hurting. The very few people he could call friends trusted him about as far as they could throw him.

"That was such a good burger as well." Tony half-heartedly tried to lighten the situation and everyone laughed nervously. Thor reached down a hand to help Tony up.

"So sorry Bruce." Tony said, nodding to his shoes, but Bruce knew he meant for a little more than that.

"That's fine Tony, but I expect a new pair ASAP."

"Deal."

…..

As everyone piled into the car Bruce remained in contemplative silence. Tony was already laughing and joking with the others, who had slowly started to relax. But Tony's recovery from the day's events was far too quick. In fact thinking back all of it had been, for the past 6 months. Nobody comes back from something like that without some sort of breakdown. If it looked too good to be true it usually was and now Bruce knew that what Tony showed on the surface was a mask to hide the scars inside. He doubted anything they knew about their quirky genius was actually real and it scared him a little.

Bruce cursed himself he should have realised all of this from the start and he supposed that the only reason he hadn't was because he wanted so badly for it to be true. Tony had been getting better and everything in his life was the best it had ever been, better than he could ever have imagined for himself since the accident. But things were going to have to change now. Why did they always have to change?

…..

It was time to have that talk. That one they had all been avoiding. Natasha knew they should have done it sooner, but there had been no sign of the CAEB, in fact it had almost slipped their minds. That's why it had come as such a shock, to see it again with no warning, but it was part of him now and it was bound to have shown up sooner or later. She hoped she was right in her new conclusions on Stark. When they had first met she had wanted to hate him, whereas now it was the opposite. Perhaps in both instances she had let her emotions cloud her judgement. This was so unlike her. She wanted to trust Tony, but equally she felt that no one person should have that much power and with what Thor had told them she guessed they had only seen a fraction of what the CAEB could do.

…..

Steve had already had his doubts. He'd let them slide after Natasha's talk and the absence of any sign of the CAEB, in fact he'd almost forgotten about it. After all everything had been so great between the team lately. But now there was a knot in the pit of his stomach. A deep and uneasy feeling that revolved around Tony. There was so much power flowing through his veins, they had already seen what it could do and today was proof that Stark was not in control. Everyone openly admitted that they didn't understand a damn thing about this CAEB, they needed help. It would be irresponsible to keep it to themselves any longer, not after this. But the team had agreed not to tell SHIELD and he didn't fully trust them either. Steve just didn't know what to do and he was scared. Never a good combination.

…..

Clint trusted Tony. Unlike Natasha he didn't dig and probe and search for every piece of evidence that she could find on a person before coming to a judgement. He went on his gut and his gut told him to trust Tony. Granted, his instincts weren't always right, Natasha's deductions however were rarely wrong. But one thing Clint had learned over the years was that he should always trust his gut. There wasn't time to question or doubt himself when things were life and death, and his first instinct rarely let him down, after all, what were instincts if not based on evidence that you are not consciously processing. But this CAEB gave him a bad vibe, a very bad vibe but not for the reasons he was expecting. He felt like something bad was coming, but Tony wasn't the cause, he felt like things weren't going to get better for Tony just yet. God he hoped he was wrong.

…..

For Thor, what had happened had changed the way he felt about leaving. Now he had many concerns, but mainly how his Midgardian friends would cope. Powers such as Tony's were not common on Earth. It reminded him of magic on Asgard, it was feared since it was not understood and Æsir who chose to use it had centuries to master it. Stark had not chosen this, nor had he welcomed it. Banner's own experience may enable to help Stark gain control, but the others could not hope to understand and even then, Banner's choice was to supress the hulk rather than embrace it. Such an approach with the CAEB could be deadly for Tony. But again he saw the Ravens circling. A bad omen. The nine realms was in chaos with the loss of the bifrost and he was needed back on Asgard more than ever. He would have to leave.

…..

Tony went straight to his floor when they arrived back at the tower. He told them he was tired and was going to bed, which was true in part. He wasn't just tired, he was barely able to stand but the memories and the feelings that refused to go away also refused to let him rest. He rummaged around the drawers until he found a laptop. He never used laptops, it was dated tech after his holographic computers. But this was an old fashioned sort of a day since he really didn't want to talk to Jarvis. He dumped the laptop toughly on the table and flipped open the lid. He paused for a moment in contemplation, before standing up again. He began pacing, backwards and forwards each circuit getting quicker and quicker. His eyes kept drifting back to the device on the table which seemed to stare at him while his internal debate intensified.

He was desperate to talk to someone after what had just happened. And that was so unlike him. But he could feel control slipping through his fingers, the world crumbling around the edges and there was only one person who could understand about what had happened at lunch, or more appropriately who had happened. That was Rhodey, but he was in Afghanistan until next week.

Half an hour of pacing later and Tony finally sat down and opened skype, there was only one contact and he hit the call button. He silently prayed that Rhodes would pick up.

"Hey Tony, Buddy how are you?"

Tony breathed a silent sigh of relief. "Hey Rhodes, not too bad, how's the desert?"

They chatted for a bit, just the inane sort of banter they usually had, but Rhodey could tell something was off, Tony never just called for a chat and more than that there was something dark in his expression, his whole body language was off.

It was a good hour before Tony let up enough for Rhodey to guide the conversation.

"So" Rhodey looked hard into the camera. He would have love to have looked Tony in eye but, well they were thousands of miles apart and this was the best he was going to manage. "Are you going to give me the real reason why you called?"

"I screwed up." Tony barely paused before answering. He had been bursting to get it out there, but reluctant at the same time. He put his head into his hands for what felt like the millionth time that day and for a moment there was silence as Rhodey waited patiently for him to continue.

"I freaked them all out. We were out for lunch , everything's been going so well, I mean I could finally stomach a cheeseburger, it's the first time I've been outside since any of this happened."

"Tony, what happened?" Rhodey cut his friends ramblings short, they would be there all day otherwise.

"I saw them again Rhodey and then I remembered and the CAEB amplified everything, it was like I was trapped, trapped in my own past and hurt so much. So I freaked out, and it freaked everyone else out." Tony was trying so hard not to lose it, but he couldn't keep the emotion out of his voice as the memories came flooding back.

"Who did you see Tony?" Rhodey kept his voice perfectly level, but inside he was panicking. His best friend was losing it and he was too far away to be of any real comfort.

"I saw Michael." Tony paused "Tori and Michael."

"Tori and Michael?" Rhodey repeated, it took a moment for the names to register. "Oh My God Tony! Erica's* parents?"

Tony nodded and choked back a sob at the mention of her name, but Rhodey didn't reply.

"Rhodes?" He looked back at the screen and it was blank, the call had been cut off.

He was on his own. He never should have reached out, on his own was safer, on his own he knew what to expect. Why had he gone and screwed things up again, now some of the only people he cared about in the world were scared of him. They were bloody terrified, he could see it in their eyes and there was no denying it. He waited, but Rhodes didn't call back.

He yelled and threw the laptop across the room. The screen separated from the keyboard with a crunch, but it didn't help. Now he couldn't stop seeing Erica's face, even when he closed his eyes he couldn't escape his biggest mistake, his worst moment.

He bashed his forehead into the wall and bit back the tears, the pain was sharp but faded quickly, but as the pain came the memory faded, just for a second. So he did it again. And again. Then he started to pound his fists into the wall until he felt the bones crunch and buckle inside. At that point the exhaustion that had been creeping up on him ever since the incident started to win out. He slumped down, back against the wall sliding down onto the floor. The room was already fading from view and his body went limp against his will. He passed out.

…..

"Erica's parents?" Rhodey's heart dropped. This couldn't be happening again, Tony couldn't go through this again. "I'm coming back. I'm coming back right now. Tony!" The screen of his laptop was blank. The battery had died. "Seriously, Now! You had to go and die now!" Rhodey drummed the power button, over again but all he got was a red light and a blank screen. "Damn it!" He tried Tony's Phone but got no answer. He packed his bag, had a shouting match with his superior officer and got on a plane.

…..

The Avengers had been sat in silence for a good hour after they returned from the restaurant. They all knew they needed to discuss what had happened, but none of them wanted to, not even in the slightest.

"We can't just sit in silence all night." Natasha finally spoke up.

"But I don't know what to say." Clint said. "I'd so hoped we seen the last of it."

"Yes but that was never very realistic Clint, was it?" Natasha mentioned the archer by name, but the message was directed at everyone. "It's a part of him now, we knew that and now we have to accept it."

Bruce was encouraged by Natasha's move. There was no point in denial, or in tiptoeing round the problem anymore. Knowing what he did, but not wanting to betray Tony's confidence he sat back to watch, ready to guide the outcome if needed.

"We have got to find a way to control this. It's just too dangerous to be left unchecked." Steve started. "But the question is, how? Bruce is there anything Tony told you about today?"

"I think he had a flashback, a bad memory but he wouldn't say. The CAEB amplified his feelings which understandably was not a fun experience. Nobody was in any danger."

"We can't be sure of that Bruce, he smashed things the first time in his nightmares." Natasha understood why Bruce was trying to defend Tony. Their situations were oh so similar right now.

"So it's linked to emotions. Perhaps Natasha you can work with him to figure out what is triggering it and Bruce, some of the ways you control the Hulk might help him..." Steve was objectively straight onto the solutions and Clint and Natasha quickly joined in. Bruce listened for a while, but there was a reoccurring theme that was not going to help them in the slightest.

"But you are forgetting a couple of important things." Bruce stopped them dead in their tracks. "Firstly, you are basing your solutions around me. I will gladly help Tony any way I can, but you have to understand I don't really control the hulk so to speak, I contain it. Granted I have a greater degree of control now, but what me and the other guy have is more of a mutual understanding. Tony's situation, for all its similarities is not the same. Tony and the CAEB are not separate things anymore, so we have to stop speaking like they are. What Tony is doing is like learning to walk again." Bruce paused to think of the words to describe his interpretation of Tony's problem. "It's like having a whole new body that he can't control yet. We have to approach it differently."

Bruce paused again for a moment to let the words sink in and there was a general nod of understanding from the others.

"Secondly, and most importantly is, why are we sat here deciding all this? This is Tony's life, Tony's future. We not just his teammates we're his friends and we are certainly not his handler. He should be sat here with us before we make any decisions." The others bowed their heads in realisation.

"Yes Bruce, I'm sorry. I agree." Steve suddenly understood how disempowering it would be to have your whole future decided without your input, but he had to ensure this problem would be tackled properly or the safety of the planet could be at risk. "But we have a great responsibility here, where the CAEB is concerned. Tony may not be able to have this all his own way."

"I appreciate that Steve, so long as he's part of the process and we don't alienate him that is fine." Bruce was happy with the cooperation.

"He must be pretty freaked out as well." Clint added and it started to dawn on the room that everyone had been so caught up in their own fear that they hadn't stopped to think about Tony's feelings.

"That's settled then, we'll all meet tomorrow and discuss this properly." Steve finished.

"My comrades, I am very pleased to see how you are dealing with this. It had been my intention to announce this at Luncheon however it seemed wrong to spoil the joyous occasion. I must return to Asgard this night. The nine realms are in chaos and although I would love to stay, we risk war if a solution is not swiftly found."

"You're leaving?" Natasha was shocked.

"Indeed I must, but with a heavy heart. I was wary to do so after today's events, but your conversation tonight has given me great confidence that you will be successful in your endeavours."

"We understand Thor, you have your duty as do we all." Steve nodded to the demi-god as they all stood.

"This is not goodbye my friends, I will return as soon as I am permitted."

"It'll be weird not having you around." Clint punched him lightly on the shoulder.

…

Rhodey walked into the tower at 0800. Steve was out for his run. It had been a longer one than usual. Natasha and Clint were training and Thor was gone. That left Bruce, who had just sat down with a mug of coffee to see Rhodey arrive.

"Rhodey, why are you…"

"Do you need to ask?" Rhodey seemed pissed, Bruce wasn't entirely sure why, but he guessed he knew about yesterday.

"He called you?" Bruce put down his coffee and this morning's newspaper and got up to follow him.

"Yes." Rhodey replied and that's when Bruce knew it was bad. Tony didn't ask for help. "Did anyone check on him last night?"

"No. He went to bed early said he was tired, I thought he needed space." Bruce was starting to feel like he'd thought wrongly.

"What time?"

"About 2:30 I think."

"Ok." Rhodey got into the lift and put a hand on Bruce's chest. "Don't follow me Bruce, please."

"Why Rhodey, what's going on?"

"Look, I might be making a fuss out of nothing. Just don't tell the others." Bruce shoved his arm in the lift door as it tried to close.

"Fine, but what if you aren't. Making a fuss that is. How worried should I be?"

"I'll call you if I need you."

Enclosed in the privacy of the lift Rhodey immediately pressed the button for Tony's floor and went straight into his room. Tony wasn't there, but there were small spatters of blood in a slightly dented wall and a smashed laptop at the other side of the room.

"Jarvis where is he?" Rhodey looked to the ever-present being for help, but there was no answer. "Jarvis?"

Rhodey stormed back to the lift and this time headed down to the workshop, after all, there was only one place Jarvis could be shut down from. He heard the blasting music as soon as the lift came to a halt. That was a good sign, wasn't it?

"Tony?" Rhodey yelled over the music and then squinted as his eyes were met by a blinding light. The music cut off and there was an ear splitting electrical whine. "Tony?" Rhodey edged forward carefully and rammed his fingers in his ears.

There was a loud bang and Tony skidded across the floor bashing onto Rhodey's legs almost bringing them both onto the floor. The light levels died down, leaving the room in near darkness with the smell of smoke hanging heavily in the air.

"Tony. What. The. Hell!" Rhodey coughed out in choked gasp, waving his hand in front of him to dissipate the smoke. Tony groaned in frustration and looked up at Rhodey, his face covered in black soot.

"Another Fucking backfire! What do you want from me?" Tony yelled at the machine which was just becoming visible through the cloud of smoke.

"Rhodey, you came." Tony said quietly as Rhodes helped him to his feet.

"Of course I came." Tony grabbed him and pulled him into tight hug.

"Thank you." Tony's voice was muffled in the shoulder of Rhodey's uniform.

"No Tones. Thank you for calling." Rhodey grabbed an old towel off the side and threw it to Tony so he could wipe the dirt from his face. As he did the red and purple bruising on his knuckles contrasted strongly against the white of the towel.

"So you're coping then." Rhodey inspected Tony's hands and pressed dabbed up his forearm to a hiss of pain.

"Clearly." There was an awkward silence for a moment. "You hung up on me."

"My battery died." Rhodey said calmly

"Typical." Tony scoffed in half amusement.

"It was a Stark model, so it's your own fault. You should have put in a bigger battery."

"You know, I knew I'd come to regret that." Tony shook his head and smiled gently.

Rhodey gave Tony back his hands. "You'll need to get Bruce to look at those."

"Its fine Jarvis will scan me, won't you J?" No answer "J?"

"It's funny that, he wouldn't speak to me either." Rhodey said sarcastically.

"Oh, of course, no it wasn't that. I've been turning him off to get more power for this blasted thing." He kicked the offending, exploding machine. He flicked a few switches and music started back up startling them both.

"Turn that off J!"

"Yes Sir." Much to Rhodey's relief the music stopped, but he imagined his ears would keep ringing for a few hours. How Tony survived that racket he would never understand.

"What the hell is that thing Tony?" Rhodey said, prodding the machine cautiously with his toe.

"Ermm, nothing important and probably impossible. I'll tell you if I ever get it working." Tony lied. It could be the single most important thing he'd ever made.

"So a distraction then."

"You know me too well."

"Yes, I do and we're going to sort this out properly this time Tony. No easy way out, no shortcuts no burying what's happened again."

"Do you think burying it is easy? Because it's not Rhodey, It's really not."

"Tony…."

"I've got a system and it works, so why should I change it."

"You know the answer to that." Rhodey just stood patiently and let Tony rant. Over the years he'd earnt a doctorate in dealing with Tony Stark.

"Why is this time going to be any different anyway?"

"Because I'm not going to leave you this time." Rhodey shouted, his own regret finally broke through. "I'm not going to leave you." He repeated softly, tears in his eyes. "And I never said it, but I'm so sorry that I did the last time."

"You didn't have a choice."

"Maybe I did."

"Rhodes… It's not your fault." Rhodey didn't reply and just rubbed his eyes. "Who's coping now, hey?"

"Shut up."

"Rhodey even if this is something that can be fixed, how on earth do we do it? It's not just my past I have to deal with it's this CAEB thing as well and I'm clearly not on top of that." Tony threw his hands in the air and came to regret the motion as the pain made him grimace. For the first time in twenty years he actually wanted to sort this out, but he couldn't see a way out.

"I don't know Tony. But I'm guessing one step at a time. And let's make that first one getting your hands sorted."

…..

Bruce waited anxiously to hear anything. Rhodey had been angry and secretive. Angry, worried and secretive and that was never a good thing. It had been nearly half an hour and thankfully none of the others had returned, he knew he wouldn't have been able to hide his concern.

When Tony finally appeared at the elevator doors he breathed a sigh of relief, which quickly returned to concern when the smell of burning met his nostrils and he saw the slight singe to Tony's face and clothes. Then he saw his hands.

"Jesus, what happened?"

"My new machine blew up on me." Tony sulked and sat in the chair

"You're working on something already?" Bruce inspected Tony's hands and winced, everything else may have fitted with his story, but he couldn't see any way he'd done this to his hands without hitting something hard, repeatedly. He didn't say a word.

"Yeah, I'll probably need your help at some point if you fancy playing with a particle accelerator."

"You've built a particle accelerator in your lab! Are you mad?"

"Its fine I've done it before."

"Seriously?"

"He actually has." Rhodey nodded, remembering the mess he made of Malibu after he'd created the new element for the arc reactor.

"Well I'd love to if you promise nothing will blow up."

"I'll do my best."

"Looks like you've done quite a number on these." Bruce slipped on his glasses and started to gently press on Tony's knuckles. "Think you've definitely broken the metacarpals in both hands, and might have some stress fractures in your right wrist." He pressed as said this and Tony hissed, instinctively pulling away. "Yep, probably stress fracture. I'll need to wrap them and you'll need to take it easy for a while."

"How long."

"Honestly, depends how fast you're healing is right now." Tony nodded.

The elevator door opened again and Steve, sweaty and fresh from his run headed straight for the fridge. "Hey guys. Rhodey, thought you were posted away."

"Yeah well got to come back early, some more urgent matters in Washington to deal with." As Rhodey replied Natasha and Clint also made their first appearance of the morning, causing Steve to glance across the room at them. Noticing Tony's dishevelled appearance he did a double take. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Oh Tony your hands!" Natasha exclaimed.

"My new idea blew up on me."

"And bit you by the look of it! I didn't know you were working on something." She said.

"I started on it last night. I thought I'd better since the world is expecting me to come out of hiding with some big discovery. It's not like I've got a lot of time before people really start to get suspicious."

"Well sorry Buddy, but you've probably got even less time than that." Clint said grabbing the Stark pad and loading up YouTube. A news article from an entertainment website started playing and they all leant in to see.

"Tony Stark has been seen in Public for the first time since the incident in New York six months ago and it seems he and the Avengers were making the most of the recent rainstorm according to this fan's video." The reporter's voice ran over a clip of Tony sliding into the puddle, pulling Natasha in and Clint soaking her before they all ran off into the distance.

"The clip, released online yesterday afternoon, went viral overnight and was received well by most who were happy to see a more relatable side to Earth's mightiest heroes. However there were some comments deeming this as unacceptable behaviour from the people who we are trusting to protect us. The scientific community is now eagerly awaiting the surely imminent release of Stark's latest discovery, which he has been playing very close to his chest over recent months."

"Oh great, now they're expecting something, like, tomorrow." Tony flopped dejectedly onto the sofa.

"Seriously, someone was filming that. That's all we need." Natasha threw her hands in the air and proceeded to swear under her breath in Russian.

"Relax guys, I've read most of the comments. People are loving it! Apart from the odd Trolls everyone thinks we're legends."

"Trolls?" Steve asked folding his arms and not really knowing what to make of the situation.

"Just a bunch of sad, bitter people who feel they have to impart their negative opinions on the world." Clint replied.

"Yeah, seriously Steve they'd find something negative to say about a video of a kitten." Tony added.

"Well people will think what they will, one video is hardly going to change that." Bruce said, wrapping Tony's hands in bandages he'd just retrieved from his medical bag.

"It's what Fury thinks of it that worries me." Steve added

"Oh screw Fury." Tony gave his typical view on the issue and it only reminded Steve of the huge secret they were keeping from the king of superspies.

"Well seeing as we are all together, now seems as good a time as any."

"No wait, Thor's not here." Tony, unaware of what had transpired the evening before pointed out the obvious gap that the demi-God's absence was leaving in the room.

"Ah right, I'll explain that later Tony, but we need a team talk this afternoon." Steve started, and Tony instinctively hung his head. He knew it was necessary, he'd just hoped it wouldn't be so soon. Rhodey put a supportive hand on his best friends shoulder and Steve took the chance to continue.

"Tony we had a chat last night when you'd gone to bed, it wasn't our intention to go behind your back but we were all together and we didn't want to wake you. We all agreed that we need to talk about what happened yesterday and how we're going to control the CAEB in the future. Is that ok with you?"

Tony nodded. "Yep sure, what time?"

"Say 3pm? Steve looked around and there were nods from all of them.

"Am I invited?" Rhodey posed it as a question, but it was more of a demand.

"Of course Rhodes."

 ***Erica relates to my other story 'the dying flames' which is there to look at if you want. But I will explain everything as things progress if you can take not knowing her significance until then. I'm not ever going to do a story where you** _ **have**_ **to read my others to understand it.**

 **Well another chapter down and things are going to start getting serious, very soon. Get ready for trust to be given and blown from the water. The next chapter is underway and I already feel so cruel with what is going to happen.**


	19. Chapter 19 - Their Worst Mistake

**So you've had a long wait, but this is a loooong chapter. And as you will see its one I really wanted to get right. Hopefully I have, but you guys will be the judge.**

 **I just saw guardians of the galaxy. Absolutely loved it, even better when there were only 5 people in the cinema.**

 **The plot is getting heavy now and I've got a job so I want to get it right without rushing it and updates won't be super quick. At least I have a good plan nearly up to the final chapter (which is still a way off yet so don't panic!). Hopefully I can avoid the dreaded writers block.**

 **Brace yourselves.**

Chapter 19- Their worst mistake

3pm came and The Avengers, plus Rhodey gathered on the sofas.

"Ok. So…" Tony started nervously.

"Let's start by establishing what we know." Steve took the lead as usual and Tony sat back to watch the conversation unfold with a heavy heart.

"Bruce has explained how you and the CAEB are the same thing now, so we're are going to do our best not to keep treating it like it was before you went to Asgard." Steve paused until Tony made eye contact, he wanted his message to hit home. "But equally, we can't keep ignoring it like we have done since."

"You are going to have to bear with us Tony. We can only imagine what this is putting you through, but this is a bit… well it's beyond weird and I for one am struggling to come to terms with it, so God knows how you are coping." Clint felt the need to show Tony that they were thinking of him. They couldn't ignore the fact that Tony was living with this and it sure as hell wasn't easy.

"So initially we were trying to make solutions based on Bruce's experience, but Bruce has explained that your situation really isn't like his is with the hulk." Steve started and then glanced to Bruce for back up in explaining.

"I don't know how you feel about it Tony, but the way I see it that you've got almost a completely new body, and you've got to learn how to use it. It's going to be like you're an infant again, learning to crawl, then to walk etc. So far what we've seen of the CAEB has all been accidental, but you did have some sort of control for a moment when you shielded us, so is it an emotional trigger?"

"I'm not really sure what to think." Tony didn't really seem engaged, this wasn't a conversation he wanted to be having with all the other thoughts swimming in his head.

"Work with us Tony, we want to help. Can you tell us what were you feeling when you were in control? Just describe it as best you can." Natasha took a gentle approach and it seemed to have the desired response.

"Ermmm. Well I just felt calm, like you do when you have a plan and you know what the outcome is going to be. I just knew what I had to do and did it." Tony stopped and Natasha was about to speak, before Tony started again. "Actually, thinking about it, it's the only time during this whole disaster that I was glad I had the powers, you know. So I could do something about the destroyer, cos no offence, you were getting your asses kicked." Tony smiled, but it was a weak one and it was only reciprocated by Clint, the others faces remained stoic and cold.

"And the rest of the time, you've not wanted them?" Bruce asked

"Well, No."

"Have you fought against them?" Natasha chipped in again.

"With everything I've got, but I'm not strong enough."

"Why?" Clint asked incredulously

"Why? Because I can't control it, because I don't want to hurt anyone!" Tony replied in the same tone and his raised voice took the room back for a moment.

"I'm sorry Tony, it's just that doesn't sound like that's a very good idea."

"Yeah, I know but has anyone got a better one?" Tony's voice returned to normal.

"Well I think we've found our first step." Steve retook the reigns and Tony looked at him in mild confusion. "You've got to stop fighting them Tony, learn to use them, even embrace them. If you try to fight something like this, you'll explode!"

"Yeah but guys you've seen what I can do and I can't risk the consequences!"

"We know Tony, it's the absolute last thing we want for someone to get hurt. We are all in unknown territory, so we are going to have to take baby steps and it's more than likely we'll suffer a few setbacks, but we are all going to work through this together." Steve looked around to see the nods of agreement from the others. Clint put his hand on Tony's shoulder.

"We've got your back buddy."

"So, if you are up for it Tony can you set up some sort of training room, something that is isolated from the rest of the tower."

"So I don't blow the place up."

"I'm sure it won't come to that, but yes, we have to take precautions. We'll start you off with something small and build up slowly."

"Ok." Tony nodded. "I can deal with that. When do we start?"

"As soon as you can fix up somewhere suitable."

"You could use the green room." Bruce offered to Tony.

"Green room?" Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Do you need to ask?" Clint folded his arms.

"Ok, then we start tomorrow at 0800 hours." Steve rubbed his hands together.

"Fine." Tony's voice was sincere but his blank expression concerned the others. He was just agreeing with very little resistance and although is made things run smoothly, it just wasn't like Tony to take orders. Tony got up and headed to the elevator. "I'll be in my lab if you need me."

…..

Rhodey hadn't said a word during their little meeting. He'd been there to stick up for Tony if he'd needed it, but it had all been so diplomatic, a bit too diplomatic. He was pretty certain that there was a lot being left unsaid on all sides. But there was only one side Rhodey cared about right now.

He followed Tony down to the lab after leaving a suitable gap. The man in question was buried knee deep in wires from his exploding machine, and reams of calculations filled the air in the workshop, projected holographically and slowly spinning. It was quite beautiful really Rhodey thought, although not a single word of it made sense to him.

"Pretty light show." Tony hummed in response, holding a wire in his mouth while twisting another two together clumsily with his aching hands. He hissed as he pricked himself with the wire and another little spot of blood joined the many others he had clearly gained over the short time he'd been left alone.

"Tony you should give your hands a rest you know."

"Yeah, yeah but they're a lot better today and I really need to get this working."

"I thought you said it wasn't important." Tony didn't answer and Rhodey frown deepened. "You were awfully co-operative today Tony and I'm not complaining, I just want to be sure you are actually ok with this."

"It's fine Rhodey."

"Tony, please I want you to promise to be honest with me. As I said I'm not going to force you to talk about anything, or do anything, I just don't want you to pretend that everything is fine when it's not."

"Honestly Rhodey, I'm ok with this. I'm not 100% comfortable using the CAEB, but this is the best chance I have. Besides I already have a backup plan."

"Your machine." Rhodey nodded in realisation. Trust Tony to have a contingency, his cooperation suddenly made more sense if he had a plan of his own. "So what's it do?"

"It's not the machine itself, I'm going to couple it with the particle accelerator to synthesise a bio-chip that I can use to block out the CAEB."

"So you have a way to get rid of it?"

"I can never get rid of it Rhodes, if it goes I go with it and vice versa. What I have is a potential best case scenario, a way of supressing the CAEB within me, so I don't have the powers. I'll just be plain old Tony."

"I'm guessing there's a bit more to it than that."

"Like what?"

"Tony, you know what I mean!"

Tony sighed and dropped the wires. "Yes Rhodes, it is also a way to put me down if things go wrong." He shrugged off his friend's ever deepening frown. "It has to be done and you know it."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"I'm not telling the others for now, it's so far off anyway and I don't want to ruin their little plan so soon."

"So what you're saying with all this, is that you really don't ever intend on using these powers."

"I don't want the power to crush a planet Rhodey, whether I get control or get this working I am not using these 'powers'. I'm a genius in a tin can, the whole super powered enhanced thing, that's for people like Steve not me."

"Fair enough." Rhodey could understand Tony's choice, but he was still worried about his best friend. He sensed that Tony had said all he was going to say on the subject for now, but there was another topic that hadn't been covered. "Anything else you want to talk about." Rhodey of course was eluding to incident which had set all these events into motion. Seeing Erica's parents at lunch.

Tony looked Rhodey in the eye and took a deep breath. "I will Rhodes, just not yet. Give me a week, ok?"

"A week." Rhodey nodded, he could work with that. "I'm holding you to that." 

…..

Tony was really not in the mood for this. He took a deep breath and tried to tune himself into the power inside him. But the more he tried to clear his mind the more the memories flooded back, swimming just out of his field of vision. But as they came the power began to surge, the pebble lifted but he couldn't hold it steady. His power kept surging, he couldn't quite grab hold of it. The pebble danced around in front of him, flitting from left to right, refusing to stay still as if it was mocking him. The anger began to build up inside him which just made the pebble shale more violently. He couldn't hold this much longer, his lungs and muscles were all burning and his vision was starting to go dark. He glared at the misbehaving stone and internally cursed it with all he had, 'Fuck you, little prick of a pebble.'

"That's great Tony, you've nearly got it." Natasha chose precisely the wrong moment to speak. Tony snapped. The pebble flew across the room and embedded itself a metre deep into the concrete, causing a small explosion of dust just a few feet away from where Natasha was stood. Tony slumped to the floor in what appeared to be frustration, but was actually pure exhaustion.

There was a moment of silence while Natasha gathered herself after what had unsurprisingly been a bit of a shock. "Tony, come on you need to concentrate." She said with an eyebrow raised and arms folded.

"I'm trying Tash, but I'm tired."

"Stark, we've barely been at this half an hour."

"Yeah, but it was 5 hours yesterday, 6 the day before…"

"Stark, you are member of this team and until you get this under control we can't take you into a firefight. You're leaving us vulnerable, you need to get on top of this now."

She didn't have a clue did she? About what this was doing to him. Steve had torn into him on the first day because he had been late to his second session. They'd had him hovering objects for the best part of 4 hours and given him half an hour break. They'd had more breaks than him, he'd had a different Avenger 'supervisor' every hour and they were handling him with kid gloves. He'd been late because he'd passed out. Just lifting a pebble was for a few seconds was draining him as much as half a day of hammer forging metal by hand. At the end of each day, he'd felt like crawling to the lift. He'd been sleeping 9 hours every night and he hadn't needed that much sleep since he _was_ a child.

Now he couldn't even be bothered to stand.

"Try again." Natasha demanded.

"No, screw this. I'm done."

"Stark!"

"I've been at this all week Natasha and I'm not getting any better. I'm getting worse!"

"Tony stop!"

"Just give me a break Tash! Just 1 lousy hour!"

"Tony!" Natasha grabbed his arm and yanked him to a halt. "Listen to me for one second."

Tony turned around reluctantly. His face was a picture of annoyance, but he waved a hand signalling for her to hurry up.

"Stark, when I said you weren't concentrating I didn't mean you weren't trying to. You've had something on your mind since we went out to lunch and its eating away at you I can tell."

"Tash, I'm not going to talk to you about it." Tony said bluntly. His mask was firmly in place and Natasha could just not get a read on him. His defences were up, and he was starting to shut himself down just at the mention of the incident. She knew she was on the right lines.

"I don't care if you don't want to talk about it Stark, and I don't care if you don't talk to _me_ about it. But you have to talk to someone and I mean it!" Natasha never needed to raise her voice to get her point across, her tone alone could freeze over the fires of hell. Tony clenched his jaw and looked away, but didn't say anything.

"Take your hour off Stark. But don't be late for Steve again." Natasha stormed out of the training room leaving Tony on his own to slump against the wall and slip back into the darkness.

…..

"Sir, Captain Rogers will be arriving in 15 minutes, so I suggest you wake up." But Tony didn't want to wake up. He'd had no intention of falling asleep on the green room floor but his knackered body had, had other ideas.

He knew he had to wake up but it was taking all of his energy just to lift his eyelids and every muscle in his body was screaming. His head pounded and a wave of nausea flooded through him. It took the best part of that 15 minutes for him to scramble to his feet and the moment he was standing his vision blurred and his legs threatened to buckle underneath him. He clung to the wall with every ounce of strength he had and managed to stay upright until the feeling passed.

He had only just regained his composure when Steve walked in.

"Hope you've enjoyed your hour off Stark, seems Natasha was being soft on you." Steve said with a smirk.

"Steve look, I'm not sure this is a good idea I'm really not feeling right." Tony was doing his best to seem fine, but he wasn't, he really, really wasn't. But it seemed his acting was too good.

"You'll be fine Stark, the key to any training is pushing through the pain."

Tony resisted the very strong urge to snap back at that. The condescending prick. The lot of them thought he was a lazy scientist who hadn't done a hard days graft in his life. They didn't know the half of it.

"Natasha said we should try something new, you're probably sick of the sight of that pebble." At least that was true. "And, well unless you fancy digging it out of the wall we're fresh out of pebbles."

"Right, so what then?" Tony trying to hide the fact that he was barely able to stay upright. He panted quietly and casually rubbed his forehead shaking the beads of sweat of his hand and resisting the urge to shiver.

"Well, you seemed to have that shield thing down well, so maybe we should try that again so you can get the feel of it or something."

"I don't know Steve, it kind of has to be in the moment."

"Natasha thought you'd say that. Sorry Tony." Tony looked at Steve in confusion. Then the captain drew a gun and fired straight at him.

Tony drew his arms across himself in defence and the blue shield raised its self instinctively.

"Jesus!" Tony staggered backwards.

"I'm sorry Tony, it was Natasha's idea. She said you'd need the motivation. If it's any comfort they were blanks."

"Oh yeah, sure, great comfort!" Tony was bent over, resting his hands on his knees and panting heavily.

"You ok Stark?"

"Apart from the fact you've given me a bloody heart attack!"

"Want to try that without the impending death?" Tony rolled his eyes at Steve. "Natasha said just try and replicate the feeling you had…"

"When I thought you were going to shoot me. Right yeah, no problem." Tony closed his eyes, partly to concentrate but mostly to stop the room swaying. He remembered the feeling and breathed deeply. His eyes snapped open, glowing blue and the shield came into being around him.

"Yes Tony! That's fantastic." Steve was ecstatic, even if the blue eyes still freaked him out. This was the biggest progress they had made all week. The shield began to slowly shrink away as Tony gave up the grip.

"No, Tony, don't stop see how long you can hold it." Tony nodded gently and raised a hand to regrow the shield. The blue light in the room grew stronger causing Steve to look away. Blood began to drip from Tony's nose, his bruised hands began to shake. Steve looked back too late to see it.

"Tony, God! Tony stop!" Steve just managed to get there just in time as Tony folded in on himself and began to fall towards the floor. Steve grabbed his head and shoulders just before they slammed into the concrete and lowered him gently the rest of the way.

"Jarvis, get Bruce down here!"

"What's going on, what's a code 1?" Bruce was already here, Jarvis had been 5 steps ahead as usual.

"Code 1 is imminent threat to life of the creator. The alarm has been sounded across all floors." Jarvis answered the question.

"Threat to life?" Steve was confused. "He's just passed out."

"Let me through!" Rhodey barged into the room. "What the hell is… Tony!"

"Steve tell me what happened!" Bruce needed.

"He was just getting the hang of the shield, but then his nose started bleeding, I tried to get him to stop but it was too late, he just keeled over."

"Bruce he's not breathing!" Rhodey was knelt beside Tony, going through the checks "And I can't find a pulse."

"What!" Steve exclaimed.

"Jarvis vitals!" The screens popped up on demand and confirmed the lack of a pulse. The ECG was erratic, the heart was trying to beat but failing, the electrical signals were completely out of rhythm.

"Steve, go to the med bay and get me a defib right now!" Steve nodded, he was trying not to panic, but he couldn't believe that this was happening. He got up and ran out of the room.

Rhodey was on the ball, already having started CPR, leaving the doctor time to analyse exactly what was going on.

"Come on, Tony don't you dare die on me!" Rhodey continued with the 30 to 2 praying between each compression and each rescue breath that Steve would hurry up.

"Jarvis has Steve reached the med bay?"

"He is about to leave Dr. Banner."

"Tell him to grab a shot of niacin."

"Niacin?" Rhodey asked.

"He's hyper-secreting adrenaline, it's putting a huge strain on his heart, and the niacin will help to counteract it."

Steve was back in a flash and unusually gasping for air. He hadn't slowed down for anything, not for the questions from Natasha and Clint, nor the demands from Pepper who had been dragged out of a meeting by the alarms. Jarvis was blocking anyone but Steve and the medics from going to the green room floor.

Steve practically threw the stuff at Bruce. The crucial 6 minute window was fast approaching. The shot went in and the defibrillator whined as it charged. One thud, Tony's back arched and there was everyone's eyes were fixed on the screens. Thankfully it was just a few seconds till the tension subsided and there was a steady rhythm of beeps mimicking the return of a pulse.

Rhodey got to his feet, fists clenched. "I thought I could trust you guys to look after him! How the hell could you let this happen?" Neither Bruce nor Steve had ever heard Rhodey raise his voice and most of his anger was directed towards Steve.

"Rhodey I'm sorry, I thought he was just tired, he was doing so well…"

"And you couldn't just leave it at that, you had to keep pushing him. You do realise that he never gives up don't you, he doesn't accept it himself that he has limits and he sure as hell would never admit to you that he was feeling weak. So if he tells you he is tired, that means he is barely standing! I thought you guys would look out for him, not nearly kill him!"

"Rhodey I…" Steve was taken aback, he couldn't believe that he had let this happen and he was barely over the fact that Tony had just _died_ for a second there and that was on him.

"Rhodey, please stop. We'll talk about this later let's just focus on Tony, Yes?" Bruce's voice broke through Rhodey's protective rage and he realised he was stood inches from Steve's face, pulled up and on tiptoe to try and match the taller man's height. He took a deep breath but the look of disdain did not leave his face, he backed away from Steve but didn't turn his back until he was nearly back at Tony's side.

"Steve, will you update the others with what's happening. They'll be confused." Bruce's eyes were equally as annoyed, but a little more sympathetic that the Colonel's. Steve nodded curtly and left the room as fast as he could.

…..

Rhodey slammed his fist hard into the wall and instantly regretted it.

"Did that hurt?" Bruce asked calmly, still occupied by Tony's vitals.

"Yep." Rhodey hissed through his teeth.

"Better?"

"Nope not really."

"Watch yourself or you'll end up with a matching set to Tony, although I doubt yours will heal as quickly."

"I just can't believe I keep letting this happen to him."

"You are not referring to just the last 6 months are you?"

Rhodey was silent for a moment but eventually he answered. "No, I'm not." He sighed.

"Rhodey I'm not trying to probe, really, but… Is he alright?"

Rhodey's jaw tensed. "Honestly Bruce, I can't remember the last time he was 'alright'. But it's the first time in 20 years he's admitted it and I think he genuinely wants to help himself this time. That's got to be something, right?"

"Let's hope. I think, he's going to come round soon, we should move him into bed."

"Bed sounds good." A weak voice surprised them both as Tony's eyes flickered open. "Can I have a day off now?"

"Tony Buddy, take the week." Bruce laid a hand on his shoulder, but the genius had already slipped back into unconsciousness.

…..

When Steve told the others what had happened he had a face like a kicked puppy. Natasha remained stoic, Clint's only concern was Tony, as was Pepper's but nobody could miss the orange flame of distinct annoyance in her eye and her tightly clenched jaw spoke volumes. Steve had betrayed all their trust today, especially Tony's and he wasn't going to forgive himself any time soon.

…..

"Tony, you've got reporters bashing the door in downstairs, will you please just go and talk to them." Pepper demanded. She'd stayed in the tower as much as possible since the training failed to go to plan, but after a few days rest Tony had been back to his normal self. The genius soon became a scarce sight as he escaped to the lab at the first opportunity. Training had been suspended pending further investigation into how it was affecting Tony, and if Pepper and Rhodey had their way this situation would become indefinite. Tony's mood might have picked up, but there was an awkwardness in the room whenever the team tried to communicate.

"Why Pepper?" Tony whined. "Share prices are already soaring, why do you need to feed me to the press as well?"

"What's up with you, you usually love showing off your brilliance to the world and you never pass up a chance to outwit a reporter."

"Ughh, fine whatever I'll do it."

"What does the press want?" Steve asked tentatively.

"Tony just released the breakthrough scientific paper everyone's been waiting for." Pepper answered.

"Oh yeah, what did you come up with?" Steve asked, genuinely interested. He'd been trying hard to make it up to the genius, but Tony didn't seem to be upset about it in the slightest.

"I just read it." Natasha joined in. "I could only understand the abstract but teleporting is pretty cool Stark."

"Seriously you can teleport! That's so awesome Tony. When can I have a go?"

"No feather's, teleporting is…"

"Tony I just read your paper." Bruce walked in Stark pad in hand.

"Oh yeah, what did you think?" Tony was sat back in the armchair, appearing laid back and relaxed, but Pepper could see his eyes light up in anticipation of Bruce's opinion.

"Well you've pretty much blown everyone's minds. I mean teleporting! You've not only proved it's possible but you've outlined the perfect theory of how to achieve it. It's such a shame that the technology doesn't exist to actually make one."

"Yeah, well that's what they think."

"Hang on, what do you mean?" Bruce suddenly went from just excited, to incredibly intrigued.

"I'm not going to publish part II."

"What's part II?" Clint asked.

"Well let's just say I'm not going to just hand them the detailed instructions on how to build one. It's too weapon-isable. They'll get there in about 100 years if they work hard."

Nobody knew what to say. They just stared at each other.

"J, get out the expensive suit I've got a pack of hungry wolves to go and face."

…..

The Avengers watched Tony on TV in stunned silence. His presence in front of a crowd was something else. It was a masterclass. Stood in his ridiculously expensive suit, with not a hair out of place he looked like a completely different person. He exuded confidence and no matter what difficult questions were thrown his way he had a perfect answer, thought of on the spot and that rolled off the tongue without hesitation. He had them right where he wanted them, even when they felt they were in control it was in fact Stark who was directing his own interview. They laughed on cue, charmed by his incredible if slightly annoying charisma. He was untouchable.

…..

Tony stood and stared into the mirror. It had been a long time since he'd worn this suit. God he looked good. But he didn't feel it. He'd just put back on his disguise, the one he hadn't taken off for 20 years but now he felt it was crumbling at the edges. He was letting people close to him, too many people and he'd already paid the price for doing things their way. He was angry, furious even, but he knew it was only like this because he cared about them so damn much. He wanted to take off that mask for them, but how could he trust them now? They constantly misjudged him and in one way he knew that was because they didn't really know him and that was because he wouldn't let them. Yet if they didn't trust him, so why should he trust them?

But the real truth was that he didn't know who he was anymore. He'd been wearing a different persona for as long as he could remember, take that away and who was he really? He had no clue. He couldn't even remember the person he was before it all happened, he wasn't sure if that person even existed anymore. He was scared; of everything. But most of all he was scared of remembering.

He could feel the burning bite of the flames, remembered the desperation that tore right through him. He closed his eyes and tried to force the memories back out of his mind. He took deep breaths, clenching onto the edges of the sink and imagining a sea of black. But he could feel the prickling heat, smell the burning metal and fumes. It was becoming so real again. He felt his arms begin to burn, this wasn't a memory, this was too real, and it bloody hurt!

His eyes snapped open and he jumped in horror. He was surrounded by fire, flames that flickered and danced, growing steadily upwards.

"Fuck!" Was this him again, had he done this? He climbed up into the basin and backed into the mirror trying to escape the inferno around him. But the flames kept growing, the smoke clung to the back of his throat and slowly started to strangle him. He gasped and coughed, not knowing what to do.

"Jarvis!"

There was a crackle from the ceiling, but it was barely audible above the roar of the fire. "Shit!" Tony gritted his teeth and covered his head with his jacket. He could just about see the door through the sea of red and orange. He leapt from the sink and sprinted across the room. Tears streamed down his cheeks and he tried to ignore the fact that he could no longer draw air. His shoulders rammed into the door and he fumbled for the handle. He didn't retract his hand when it came into contact with the scolding metal. He pushed through the door and slammed it from behind him. Collapsing into the carpet of his room, choking and spluttering.

"Tony, what's going on? Jarvis said there was… Oh My God fire!" Clint was brandishing a fire extinguisher but was shocked to see the extent of the blaze. Tony lay back into the carpet as Clint tried to tackle the flames, but it wasn't a carpet anymore it was cold and hard, he was looking up into a black sky and the heat of the fire warmed the side of his face. But he felt nothing, not anymore, he was numb.

Natasha was close behind Clint, she took a quick look at Stark, he was lying very still but appeared unharmed and she was relieved to see that other than flushed skin he didn't have any burns. She attacked the flames with the fire extinguisher, the blaze fought back but between the two of them the fire began to retreat.

Steve was the next into the room, the two superspies had the fire under control so he dumped the fire extinguisher and went to Tony. "You Ok Stark?" Tony's eyes were open but they seemed glazed, he didn't move at all and just kept staring at the ceiling.

"Tony, Can you hear me?" Steve looked him up and down for injuries, but he couldn't see anything wrong. He put his hands on Tony's shoulders and gently shook him. "Tony?" but there was still nothing, he didn't even blink. Steve swallowed hard, what was happening? What did he do? He looked to the others, but they had progressed further into the room, their backs to him as the last little bits of orange began to fade and small amounts of black smoke slowly poured into the room. The smoke caught in Steve's throat and he coughed trying to force it from his throat. He looked back at Tony and it struck him how still he was, he wasn't moving at all, not even his chest. He wasn't breathing. Steve scooped Tony up and pushed out into the corridor and away from the black fog. Tony was rigid in his arms, his body resisting Steve's attempts to carry him and lay him back down. He wasn't breathing and his eyes were open, was he dead? Steve bit back the panic. Pulse, was there a pulse? He didn't even need to check, he could hear the strong thudding of Tony's heart in his chest if he concentrated, it was slow and even, almost mechanical. He breathed a small sigh of relief, but there was still the issue that Tony wasn't breathing. Did he do CPR? How did you even do that again?

"Tony please, snap out of it." It shocked Steve himself to hear the desperation in his voice. This couldn't be happening again. Why wouldn't Tony just breathe?

"Tony! Tony what's going on? Tony please breathe!"

Tony gasped and snapped upright. He was on his feet in a second, gulping in air but seemingly unaware of why his lungs burnt so much.

"Tony, are you ok? What happened?"

"Ermmm, yeah spangles I'm fine." Tony twisted his head back and forth, taking in his surroundings. "Oh, shit." Tony sighed and leant heavily against the wall.

"What is it what's wrong?" Steve jumped to his side and was desperately scanning him head to toe.

"No, nothing Steve Jees, calm down I'm fine."

"Tony you're not fine, you weren't breathing or moving, you couldn't hear me."

"What are you on about, I'm fine!"

"Tony…"

"What's going on?" Bruce came jogging down the corridor and stopped dead at the alarm on Steve's face. "What's wrong?"

"I set the bathroom on fire."

"What? How?"

"I don't know Bruce, take a wild guess!" Tony bashed his forehead into the wall and collected himself. "I'm sorry Bruce."

"Tony its ok, it's not your…"

"Please don't say it." Tony sounded defeated. "I'm going to the lab."

"Tony…" Steve tried to call him back but Tony just kept walking. Clint poked his head out of Tony's room, the fire extinguisher slung over his shoulder in a triumphant pose.

"Woow that could have been nasty. Fire's out! Honestly who let Tony play with matches?" Clint's grin was wiped from his face when the saw the expression of the other's. Natasha, equally sooty and sweaty came out and stood beside her fellow impromptu firefighter. She read the expressions on the others face and drew her conclusions.

"Oh."

…..

"Tony are you absolutely sure that this is the path you want to go down?"

"I don't see any other way. I wouldn't be interfering with my own brainstem, just cutting off the one which has grown for the CAEB, it's safe."

"Wait, you have a second brain stem?"

"Yes." Tony pointed to the screens and Jarvis brought up the scans without a word. "Welcome to a whole new world of weird."

"Jesus Christ Tony. How did you get this scan?" Bruce was astounded by clarity and depth to the picture he was looking at. In all the scans he had run he'd been able to tell very little about the effect the CAEB was having on Tony's physiology but this laid it out like a map. The CAEB hadn't just integrated with Tony's own nervous system, it seemed to have developed a complete one of its own and one which was hugely more advanced than the human evolution. Sure enough there was a second brain stem, not contained within the spine which was perhaps the only physical flaw in its design. It would be easily accessible from the back of Tony's neck.

Bruce ran his eyes across the scan of Tony's brain. It too was extensively invaded by the CAEB network, which was reaching into areas that humans simply didn't have access too. His brain activity was fairly normal for now, well, it was greatly above that of the average human, but this _was_ Tony Stark. He would imagine that when Tony used his powers that his brain activity would fall off the charts.

"It's a live feed. I just had to do a bit of recalibration, as you know conventional scans just weren't touching this."

"Let me see the equation." Tony flicked it up in response. "Tony how did you get the computing power to process this?" Bruce was good at math, but this was like reading a different language.

"It nearly broke Jarvis, I had to most of it by hand."

Bruce just looked at his friend in awe. Genius barely scratched the surface when it came to Tony Stark, this was a once in a millennia level of work and Tony had barely broken a sweat over it. He wondered if Tony truly realised how much he far he could advance humanity if he focused all his efforts into understanding the universe, rather than the comparatively trivial stuff he'd been working on all his life. Then Bruce remembered what Tony had said about his archives, that he had a bunch of stuff that humanity just wasn't ready for. God he wanted to see what was in those.

Then he realised the flaw in Tony's incredible device. "But Tony, you can't just cut off this brain stem it will kill you."

"Well… 'cut off' was the wrong term, I meant more like filter." Tony pulled up another screen of schematics to illustrate how he would fabricate the inhibitor.

"Tony, that's not possible."

"Yeah, that's what I thought when my machine kept blowing up. But if I did this…" He threw up the next screen with a swipe of his hand.

"Oh My God." Bruce took off his glasses and clasped his hand over his mouth. "That is brilliant! That is utterly brilliant! So you use the particle accelerator to…"

"Yep."

"But Tony is you miscalculate with the tolerances by the tiniest of fractions this chip will literally kill you."

"It's the only way Bruce and I don't make mistakes."

"Tony it's not the only way, the other way is that you learn to control it."

"We've tried that."

"Tony we had a setback it doesn't mean that…"

"It's not safe."

"This isn't safe either Tony!"

"Yeah but this way it's only my life at risk, not the entire planet. And even if I got control of this by some miracle we need a contingency in case I go wrong. We need a way to put me down."

Bruce sighed. God he wanted to argue, but he couldn't argue with the logic that he'd believed in throughout his life since the Hulk had happened. He sat down to study the schematics again and noticed something that made his stomach turn.

"Tony!" He pulled the holograph around and pointed to a specific line of the equation. "You can't be serious about this!"

"Bruce…"

"If I'm right this means that the inhibitor will have to disengage on a programmed cycle or it will collapse the CAEB brainstem."

"Yes, B…"

"And when that happens your brain will have to undergo another merge with the CAEB's nervous system."

"Yes." Tony pulled at his hair in frustration.

"Tony, you'll be putting yourself through absolute agony on a regular basis!"

"Not so regular, it will depend on how high I set the filter and how much I use my powers…"

"Tony!"

"Its fine Bruce it will be short lived." Tony scattered the holographs in a vain attempt to end the conversation.

"Only relatively!"

"Bruce, I don't want this thing I never asked for it! I can't risk hurting anyone."

"Tony I get what you are going through. I never asked for the Hulk, it never should have happened either, but it was you that told me that maybe it saved me for a reason, you that gave me the courage to embrace the other guy and look what good it did. And you have the potential for so much more!"

"I also have the potential to kill everyone on the entire planet. Maybe the entire galaxy. I know you understand Bruce, but no offence I am so much more dangerous that the Hulk."

"But you are also so much more in control. You are not two separate entities like we are and like you were before Asgard. It's just you now. I know how hard it is, I know how scary and hopeless it can feel but think about where you were then and where you are now. It does get better. I promise you."

"You and the Hulk are more linked than you care to admit Bruce."

"That may be the case Tony, or it may not, but that's not my point."

"Even so, Bruce, tell me that if you had a way to fix it that you wouldn't use it. If you had a way to make sure that you would never hurt anyone again, even if you had to endure a bit of pain every now and again, tell me that you would chose to keep the hulk."

Bruce paused for a second. He couldn't lie. "It's exactly what I would do Tony. But I want better than that for you, you are my friend and I want it to be better for you than it was for me." Bruce broke into tears and Tony pulled him into a hug.

Tony sighed. This was hell for all of them. He felt like his life was spiralling out of control and he hated not being in control. He was the smartest guy in every room, he always had the answers… but not his time. Not when it really mattered. But he had come to terms with the fact his life would be shit a long time ago, what he couldn't stand was that this time he was dragging everyone down with him. He was hurting the people that he loved most in all the world.

"I know Bruce. I know and I'm sorry, but I really can't take the risk."

"I understand Tony. Of course I do, but please just, not yet. Give it a couple of months, just give it a couple of months and see. If things get bad before then, then fair enough use your inhibitor, but give yourself a chance of having a better alternative. Please. For me, please." Bruce begged.

Tony was quiet for a moment, considering, but his face didn't give Bruce hope. He held his breath and prayed that Tony wouldn't just resign himself to a grim and painful fate.

"Ok."

"What?" Bruce could hardly believe what he was hearing.

"Ok, Bruce. We'll try it your way." He flipped the lid of the inhibitor's case closed and tossed it into a draw. "One month." He held a finger aloft to illustrate his point as he walked toward the workshop door and the lights began to turn themselves off for the night.

…..

Tony settled in to bed that night and felt uneasy. Apart from Bruce, Rhodey and Pepper, everyone had been tiptoeing around him, treating him like cracked glass. Nobody knew what to say and in the brief conversations they had not one of them would look him in the eye. Steve was the worst one minute he was trying everything to get Tony to talk to him, the next he was acting like he didn't exist. Compared to what things had been like just a matter of weeks ago this was hell, everything was unravelling.

…..

Pepper was pulled from her sleep roughly by a sound. She could feel Tony moving around restlessly beside her and it was getting unbearably hot under the duvet. She rolled over to face him and gently ran her fingers through his hair as she had done so many times before when Tony had had nightmares. It took a few minutes for him to calm and settle but he did. She waited a moment and then turned back over to face the window letting the blanket of sleep envelope her once more.

…..

She awoke gasping, but wasn't sure why. She had heard something, it had sounded like an explosion. She looked around in the blackness but fraught with panic her eyes had not yet accustomed themselves to the dark. Then she winced as she noticed the shooting pains.

"Jarvis lights." Pepper jumped off the bed clutched her arm and face and yelled out as something crunched beneath her feet and sent a stabbing pain through the sole of her foot.

"What's going on! Pepper?" Tony sat up straight glazed in sweat and panting, his stomach turned at the sound of her cries. The lights flickered on and Tony blinked as he was momentarily blinded.

Pepper looked down at her arm and all she saw was blood and broken glass, she felt the cold chill of the night air bite at her as she saw the blown in window. She gently dabbed her face with her trembling hand and she could feel a piece of sharp, cold glass embedded into her skin just centimetres from her eye.

Tony saw the blood streaming down Pepper's face and his heart stopped. "Oh My God." Tony's voice was barely a whisper. "Pepper?"

"Get away from me!" Pepper screamed, tears in her eyes she ran from the room. She barged her way through the door and ran into something hard.

"Woah Pepper are you ok." Pepper looked up into Steve's eyes and he flinched at the sight of the blood. "Oh My God! Pepper what happened?"

Pepper shook her head as Steve's strong arms held her shoulders "Tony was having a nightmare and the glass exploded and…" Pepper couldn't say anymore, she burst into tears and hysterical sobs wracked her body. She clung on to Steve for dear life. Steve was in shock, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"What's going on? I heard screaming." Rhodey was in the room next to Pepper and Tony and was rubbing his eyes having just woken up, he perked up instantly at the sight of blood. "Jesus!" Rhodey inspected Pepper's wounds briefly and hissed in sympathy. "Ok Pep, let's go down to Bruce's room and get you sorted ok?" Pepper nodded still tearful and shaking uncontrollably.

…..

Natasha was a light sleeper, she'd been woken by sounds from upstairs, but she wasn't sure what they were. When the whir of the lift started that got her attention, she was on her feet quickly and made a note of the floor it had gone to. Bruce's floor. Something was going on. She took the stairs and woke Clint up on her way. She wanted to know what was happening.

…..

Bruce woke up to a firm but gentle knocking. He hadn't been asleep long having sat up pondering what had happened in the lab with Tony. He got up wearily but was shocked into action at the sight he met behind the door.

He gently removed most of the glass while Pepper told her story, none of the pieces were particularly deep though there were some nasty cuts and the one on her face may well end up needing stitches.

"Will someone go check on him please?" Pepper begged. "I was horrible to him, he's probably in bits right now he can't be alone."

"I'm going Pepper." Rhodey stood up and kissed her on the head. "Are you sure you are ok?" She nodded and put a thankful arm on Rhodey's shoulder before he scurried off.

Now that the glass had been removed and the blood wiped clean Pepper looked one hell of a lot better. The cuts had bled a lot but were fairly superficial, she just looked a little banged up but her face was still as white as a sheet from the shock.

Natasha could see the conflict in Bruce's face. He was torn two ways, he was the doctor and Pepper certainly needed treatment. She was more frightened than hurt but those cuts needed attention. But Tony was his friend and he probably needed him more than Pepper did right now.

"It's ok Bruce it's not too deep I can deal with this." Natasha tilted her head telling him to go.

"Pepper I don't want to leave you unless you are sure you are ok."

"Honestly Bruce I'm fine, I overacted and Tony really needs you both so please, go." Bruce could see the worry in Pepper's eyes that mirrored that which was gnawing at his own stomach, however Pepper was very pale and shaken. He was worried about her too.

"Ok, I'll look after him Pepper. Just please someone get her a blanket and call me if she goes into shock."

…..

There wasn't a lot of light in the workshop, if the door hadn't been ajar and the shouting hadn't been echoing up the stairs Bruce wouldn't have known there was anyone in there. Bruce looked for a light switch but there didn't seem to be one. Typical, Tony Stark didn't do switches. As his eyes adjusted to the dark Bruce could see Tony pacing frantically, tearing at his hair with Rhodey stood a few metres away.

Rhodey took two steps forward and Tony snapped round to face him, holding out a shaking hand.

"Don't come any closer!" Tony's eyes were wild with fear. "Don't come anywhere near me!"

"Tony its ok, we trust you."

"How can you say that? Are you blind? Did you see what just happened?"

"Tony!"

"Get out, just get out all of you!" Tony swiped his hand towards the door and his desk rolled with it making a large clatter causing Rhodey to retreat a little. This just made Tony more frantic.

"Rhodey." Bruce came up behind the taller man and placed his hand over his shoulder, pulling him back. He nodded gently, silently signalling to the Colonel that he would handle this. Bruce calmly walked forward, slowly and gently, just one step at a time.

"Bruce don't!" Tony begged, his voice breaking as he backed himself into a corner.

"You're not going to hurt me Tony." Bruce's voice was completely level, but inside he was shaking.

"Bruce Please! You don't know that." Tony practically sobbed, his breathing was shaky and audible across the room.

"Yes I do." Tony shook his head, burying it in his hands, clawing at his face. "You aren't going to hurt me Tony. You can't, remember? The other guy won't let you." Bruce was just a few steps away now and Tony's strength was failing. He was more bewildered than panicked now, and Bruce decided to pick up the pace.

5 steps away, 4… 3… Bruce's face slammed hard into something and he was knocked back onto the floor. "Ow!" He clutched the bridge of his nose as blood dripped slowly down his face. He huffed in a few deep breaths, pushing back the green demon that roared angrily inside him.

"I told you to stay back!" Bruce looked up to find he was encased in a bubble of blue. Tony was shielding him, stopping him from getting any closer. Rhodey ran forward and suffered the same fate.

"Tony let us out!" Rhodey pounded at the Shield in anguish.

"Rhodey NO!" Bruce begged. Tony was already down on one knee, both hands outstretched, his whole body trembling with the effort. "Tony please! Stop!" Tony's head only bowed further as he gritted his teeth and began to pant more deeply.

"Tony you're killing yourself." Rhodey and Bruce's pleas only seemed to make Tony more determined to keep them safe. It wasn't working. They needed another approach.

"Tony." Bruce waited until Tony looked up and into his eyes. "Do you trust me?" Tony nodded, of course he did. Bruce had never given Tony reason to doubt him.

"Then let the shield down." Tony used what little strength he had left to shake his head firmly. "Tony, do you trust me?" Tony buckled, dropping one hand using it to hold himself up. Bruce took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. He was not going to let his friend kill himself, even if it was a rather extreme and unlikely way of doing it.

"Tony, I know you don't trust yourself, but trust me now. Let. Down. My. Shield." Tony lifted his head again and Bruce held his deep gaze. 'Everything will be ok. Just trust me, Tony.' He thought hard and hoped that his eyes would convey the message.

The shield's dropped and Tony buckled forward onto his hands and knees. Bruce gathered himself to his feet and approached steadily. He knelt down next to Tony, facing the same direction and sat back onto his heels. He slipped his arm gently over Tony's back and he flinched at the contact. "It's ok." Bruce waited a moment and then wrapped his forearm across Tony's chest. He gently pulled Tony's towards him, the exhausted genius barely resisted, his head lolled as Bruce manoeuvred his near dead weight into the same knelt position that he was in.

Tony tried to straighten his neck, but the weight was too much, Bruce quickly and gently placed his palm across the back of Tony's neck to stop his head rolling back. He held it there for a moment as Tony began to regain his strength, he released his arm from around Tony's torso and lightly placed his palm between his shoulder blades for a little support.

"You see." Bruce smiled. "You didn't hurt us."

"I broke your nose." Tony barely whispered.

"Tony, you tried to protect us."

"And I still hurt you."

"No Tony."

"I hurt Pepper and… I killed _her_."

"Pepper's not dead Tony, she's fine" Bruce was confused, surely Tony knew that.

Rhodey had been edging closer to his friend, not wanting to upset the delicate balance Bruce had struck.

"You don't mean Pepper do you?" Rhodey closed his eyes and bit back the tears. Tony shook his head and rolled forward into his best friend's arms. "Tony you didn't kill her." Rhodey sobbed. Bruce backed away, this was not a conversation he understood, nor one he'd been invited to. As much as he wanted to know what was going on, he wasn't going to eavesdrop just because Tony was in no fit state to ask him not to. "Bruce, would you give us a minute?"

"One step ahead of you Rhodes."

"No." They both looked at Tony confused. "Bruce can stay." Tony looked up at Rhodey. "He deserves to know."

"Are you sure Tony?" Rhodey was completely shocked. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes. I trust him. And he's our friend."

"Ok." Rhodey and Bruce exchanged a glance. "Ok Tony, can you tell me what happened tonight."

"I was back there. Back at that night. I was lying on the asphalt and she was still in the car. I tried to get to her, but my body just wouldn't let me. I got to the car, I could smell the gas. I couldn't get her out. But then I had her in my arms, it was going to be ok, but he pulled me out, he took me away from her again. And then it exploded." Tony was shaking. The more Bruce heard the more questions he had, but he bit his lip. Whatever had happened had been traumatising Tony for a long time that much was obvious.

"Tony it wasn't your fault. You can't keep blaming yourself."

Rhodey couldn't believe that he was finally hearing this. Tony had never said a word about that night. Of course Rhodes knew what had happened, but never had he heard it first hand, from Tony's own mouth.

"I could smell it Rhodey. I could smell them burning." Rhodey inhaled sharply and Bruce covered his face, turning away. "And then I woke up and there was blood everywhere, Pepper was screaming and she ran away. I hurt her, I scared her and then everyone was shouting, so I ran." Tony started to sob again and Rhodey held him tightly. Bruce moved in closer and ran his fingers through Tony's hair.

"Tony, its ok. Pepper is ok, she isn't scared of you, and she was just shocked. She understands." Bruce relived their conversation as he'd treated Pepper's cuts. She was more upset with herself for over-reacting, more worried about what that would have done to Tony than she was for herself.

Tony's breaths started to even out, his sobs subsided but as Rhodey felt the weight pressing heavy against him, he shook his friend lightly. "Woah Tony! Tony you ok?"

Bruce pulled a torch out of his pocket and shone in Tony's eyes. The billionaire had gone very pale, but there was nothing obviously wrong with him. Bruce pressed two fingers to Tony's neck, the pulse seemed regular, but was weak and fast.

"I'm tired." Tony mumbled, it was barely audible and the only thing keeping him upright were his two friends.

"Ok, he's just exhausted. He needs rest. Help me get him to the couch." Bruce and Rhodey lifted him gently and laid him onto the oversized couch.

"On his side." Rhodey remembered. Never on his back. They tucked the genius in with blankets and pillows they found strewn around and sat in silence, guarding his makeshift bedside

….

Steve had left the room soon after Natasha had finished fixing up Pepper. There was nothing that Steve could do right now, so he slipped back up to the communal floor and sat in the darkness contemplating what had just happened.

This was a wakeup call harsher than any they had, had so far.

The training had failed, Tony had no control. He was dangerous and he'd just hurt the person he loved the most in all the world.

They had failed to get control of the CAEB and by doing so they were failing to protect the planet and everyone on it. They were out of their depth, which they'd known from the start, however this was proving to be more difficult and more dangerous than any of them had imagined.

They couldn't carry on like this. They needed help. Something had to be done about Tony, for his own safety as well as their own.

Steve picked up the phone and hit dial. It rang out for a few seconds but was quickly picked up.

"Captain Rogers, what can I do for you so late?"

"Director Fury, there's something we haven't told you. I'm afraid I've been lying to you. It's about Tony."

….

Rhodey and Bruce had been sat in an awkward silence for some time. Bruce was still a million miles away from understanding what exactly had happened, though he was much closer to understanding exactly how much it had hurt him.

Rhodey could see Bruce's mind working behind his eyes, trying to piece together. He didn't really want to talk about it, but Tony had given him the go ahead.

"So, I bet you have questions?"

"You might say that." Bruce began. "So a car crash?" Rhodey nodded. "And he lost someone, a girl?" Rhodey nodded again. "He blames himself, so was he driving?"

"No, she was… They were running away."

"From what?"

"It's probably better if I start from the beginning." Rhodey sighed and twisted round in his chair to face Bruce.

"He met Erica when he was at MIT. He was about 16 I think, not long off graduating and she was in her first year. Honestly I think it was love at first sight. Tony was a different person back then Bruce, still a genius and still so witty but there was none of the façade, that arrogance that riles us all up from time to time. Anyway Erica wasn't from a well off family, it took Tony a year to tell his father about her and he disapproved from the start. Howard told him that she was only after his money and the rest, but she wasn't like that, she was… they were completely perfect. It was indescribable, like something out of a movie."

Rhodey couldn't help but smile at the recollection and Bruce could sense the feeling, there was quiet for a moment before Rhodey realised what was coming next and shook his head, the mood gone.

"Anyway, they'd been together nearly 4 years when Tony proposed, but she'd equally surprised him that day by telling him that she was pregnant. Then it was on Tony's 20th Birthday that everything went to hell. Howard found out that Tony had paid for Erica to finish at MIT and of course, the engagement ring. They both flipped, I had to drag Tony out of Howard's office, but not before Howard had thrown a vase at him and given him a concussion."

"What!" Bruce had heard a lot about the great Howard Stark, he'd never imagined him to be violent towards his own son.

"Yeah and it wasn't the first time, but that's another story."

"Anyway, Howard said that Tony couldn't see her anymore, and Tony wasn't having that. They decided to run away, she drove because of Tony's concussion and the next thing I heard was that there'd been a car crash and she was dead."

The pieces started to slot into place in Bruce's head, Tony had lost a fiancée and his unborn child in one night, and watched it happen.

"So, how did the crash happen?"

"That's where things get bad." Rhodey took a breath. "Tony had been thrown from the car and crawled his way back in to save Erica, but someone pulled him away and the car went up in flames.

There was an ambulance on the scene within seconds and the person that pulled Tony out of the car… was Howard."

Bruce's heart stopped. "Howard organised the crash?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Yes. When Tony was in the hospital the guilt was written all over his face. Tony wasn't too badly injured, but he wouldn't wake up. He'd lost everything and by the hand of his own father. He blamed himself for not second guessing his father, but how could anyone predict that Howard would have gone this far."

"So I'm guessing he never really recovered from that. How could you?"

"I thought he was going to, it took a long time but we finally had a breakthrough, he was getting there but then I was posted abroad and when I came back he had turned into the Tony you all know now."

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, Philanthropist?"

"The very same."

"You implied that Howard had abused him before."

"Yeah, something that Jarvis once said to me made me think that Tony's childhood was far from perfect. He never said it in so many words, but he made it pretty obvious. That's one thing that Tony has never told me himself and I doubt he ever will."

"Hang on a moment, Jarvis told you?"

"Oh God yeah, Jarvis was a real person!"

"Really?"  
"Yeah he was the Stark family butler, died when Tony was about 15. I only met him once or twice, and the next thing I know Tony had made an AI named after him. Think it says something about who was his real father."

Bruce shook his head, partly in amazement and partly in grief at what he had just heard. How on Earth could one person go through so much? Abused by his father who then murdered his fiancée and unborn child, then Afghanistan, this CAEB shit and probably a fair amount in between that no one would ever know about. He didn't want to look at Tony any differently but he couldn't help it. He was probably the strongest of all of them and they all knew what suffering was.

"I'm going to go upstairs to check on Pepper, do want a coffee or anything?" Bruce stood up and tried not to appear shaken by what he had just heard.

"No thanks Bruce I'm ok."

…

When Bruce came back down to the workshop Rhodey had squeezed behind Tony on the sofa and had his arms wrapped across Tony's chest. Tony did not look so good, he was incredibly pale.

"I was going to come and find you." Rhodey said in hushed voice. "He won't stop shaking."

Bruce knelt down and put his hand on Tony's forehead, he was warm and clammy to the touch and although Bruce couldn't see it he could feel Tony shaking underneath him.

"Ok. I think he's just got a fever. Hopefully it's just a symptom of his exhaustion." Bruce prodded Tony gently and he started to stir. His eyelids flickered open and he turned his head to look up at his friend.

"Bruce?"

"Sorry to wake you Tony, how are you feeling?"

"Cold. Tired."

"Ok Tony, that's fine, you go back to sleep we're not going anywhere." Tony nodded weakly, he barely needed a moment to drift off again. Bruce was happy to see he was fully responsive, he would be watching him closely nevertheless.

"You look tired yourself Bruce."

"That goes for both of us."

"Hop up, there's room for one more."

Bruce inspected the sofa and realised just how big the couch was. "It seems so. Why does Tony by his furniture so big?"

"Because he can." Rhodey chuckled.

Bruce was very tempted by the option of sleep, he was exhausted emotionally as well as physically. "I'll stay for a bit, but I'll need to check on Pepper again later."

"Jarvis lights." Rhodey's command was answered and the room fell into darkness.

As soon as Bruce was settled his body decided that he should stay and he fell asleep almost instantly.

…

It was some time later that Rhodey woke up. He hadn't intended to fall asleep and it took him a moment to remember where he was when all he could see was darkness. His arm had fallen asleep trapped between Tony and Bruce and he wiggled it ever so carefully to bring back the feeling without waking his friends.

Then something whistled through the blackness. Rhodey snapped upright, unable to place the sound. Tony shifted slightly beside him, stirring at Rhodey's jostling of him. There was another whistle and Rhodey felt a sharp stab in the side of his neck. Before he realised what was happening he was feeling woozy. He couldn't fight the force that sucked him into the darkness.

…

Natasha had convinced Pepper to take a sleeping pill. She was desperate to talk to Tony, but having read the hidden shock on Bruce's face Natasha had a feeling that something had been happening and something big judging by Bruce's unease. The broken nose wasn't exactly comforting either. Besides, Pepper was exhausted, she was emotional wreck and she needed to rest.

With all quiet and dark on Bruce's floor she wondered where the others had got to. Bruce and Rhodey were downstairs with Tony, Clint was pacing the corridor seemingly on guard and wide awake. But Steve hadn't been seen him since she'd finished treating Pepper and that had been nearly two hours ago now.

Natasha had been trying to calm the thoughts racing through her own mind, but she knew the others would not have been able to do so. Steve would be questioning everything that had happened, trying to find a solution. It was something she had been doing herself, but she had found no solution and she was beginning to come to the conclusion that they never would. Tonight's incident had made the danger of this situation so much more real and as much as she hated the thought Natasha knew they needed help.

As if on cue Steve's figure became visible in the room, and Natasha was instantly put on guard. It was the way Steve was stood, hunched over, barely stepping into the room and head bowed. He was refusing to make eye contact, deciding to stay in the shadows.

"Steve what have you done?" Natasha's heart was pounding in her chest and Clint stopped dead, snapping round to look in Steve's direction. There was a moment of silence where the air hung heavy before Steve slowly raised his to face them.

"Oh God no." Natasha whispered. It was written all over Steve's face, the apprehension, fear and regret.

"I'm sorry guys."

"Steve what have you done?" Natasha had already assumed the answer but she needed to be sure. Steve looked the elevator as the doors slid silently open and a group of heavily armed men dressed in black entered the room. SHIELD agents. And carried between those who remained in the elevator a limp form could be seen.

"Tony! Wait no, you can't!" Clint ran forward but was held back by Natasha

"Stay out of this Clint."

"Natasha you can't be serious." Clint yelled and tried to push her out of the way.

"Clint think about it for a moment, we've tried everything and it isn't working."

"No Tash we haven't tried everything we can't just let them take him!" Clint shoved Natasha onto to the ground and ran at the agents. He struck down three before they managed to raise their weapons but he didn't get far before a dart whistled through the air and struck Clint in the neck. Its contents took hold immediately and Clint staggered backwards, caught by Steve and lowered to the ground.

"I'm so sorry Natasha but I had to." Steve's eyes were practically filling with tears.

Natasha bit her lip. Half of her knew that Steve had done the right thing but the other half of her despised the decision.

"It's ok Steve." She breathed deeply. "I understand. In fact… I think you've done the right thing."

Nick Fury never needed to announce his presence, the air seemed to run from him. Steve turned on his heel and stood to attention.

"I have no words." Fury paced up and down, taking care not to tread on the unconscious form of Clint Barton. "I expect Stark to lie to me, I expect you and Barton to lie to me hell I expect nearly everyone to lie to me, but for you to get Captain America to lie to me and so convincingly is a whole new level of deception. I'm glad you've become so close as a team, no really I am but do you know how many people could have been killed?"

Neither of them answered.

"Of course you do. And now I have to deal with your shit and you're lucky that I am too busy with that tonight to deal with you, but believe me I will get to you eventually. There will be serious repercussions for this."

Fury turned and left. The SHIELD agents left and the tower was left in silence.

 **I feel so cruel in this chapter! But I've tried to be realistic about how new the team is, how little they really know each other and how frightening this must be for all of them. Someone was going to break eventually. I hope that I kept everyone in character! And I'm afraid things aren't going to get better yet, though I promise a happy ending…. Eventually.**


	20. Chapter 20- An unexpected Ally

**I know I keep saying it but Wowzers this was a tough one to write! Anyone want to Beta for me? 10k word chapters are getting tough to proof read.**

 **I'm considering changing the title to pull in more readers, but equally I don't want to lose any followers I already have, so is this a good idea? The reason I ask is because I know a lot of people decide to read stuff based on the title and CAEB doesn't mean anything to anyone until like chapter 5. Any thoughts?**

 **Anyway, hope you like the slightly different direction of this chapter…**

…

 **Chapter 20 - An Unexpected Ally**

"Coulson, I need to borrow the bus."

"Of course Director, but we are on mission right now we'll be back on Thursday. Where shall we pick…"

"I need it today."

Coulson paused. "But we can't turn back..."

"No need to turn back Coulson we're coming to you, eta 15minutes."

"Yes Sir, can it wait a little while? I'm just about to have a team briefing and…

"Relax Coulson, I just need the one room. You and your team will go about your business as normal."

"Thank you Sir. Can I ask why you need the plane?"

"No." There was a little pause as Coulson frowned at the abruptness of the director's answer. "I won't get in your way and I don't want you in mine, understood?"

"Yes Sir."

Coulson put down the phone, slightly puzzled. Why on earth was Fury coming here? Since Fury had gifted Coulson with the plane he'd been pretty much left to his own devices, picking missions, following leads, building a team. So what did Fury need the bus for?

"Who was that?" Skye asked sliding into Coulson's office

"The director." Coulson brushed down his suit and stood up from behind his desk.

"Oh my God, really? What did he want?"

"I will update you all in the briefing." Coulson pressed his finger to his ear. "May, prepare for a Quinjet boarding in 15 minutes."

"Already got it on the radar. Can I ask why we are being boarded?" The voice replied in his ear.

"I'll brief you when we land. How far are we from location?"

"30minutes."

"OK, keep me posted."

Coulson marched purposefully toward the door but Skye was buzzing around him, walking backwards perilously quickly which caused Coulson to come to a halt.

"Come on Coulson just give me a clue, is it some secret mission?"

"Skye I promise you it is not nearly as exciting as you think."

"Really?" Skye raised her eyebrow, disbelieving.

"Yes Skye really, now get out from under my feet and gather the others, we'll have the briefing now."

"Ok, cool."

….

"Coulson why do we need a briefing it's a simple operation."

"Ward, we've been through this, we can't be sure that our information is correct." Coulson was just too tired to argue with his team right now.

"What is there to doubt?" Ward threw back. Coulson just elected to ignore him. He had been behaving irrationally for the past few days and he was hoping that a mission and something to punch would get whatever it was out of his system.

"We are to proceed with caution at every step. This is an ancient temple of great significance to the native people, so please try to leave it intact. May will be with Ward on the ground, and Fitz will be there to deal with the alien tech once we retrieve it. Skye you will be on the ground organising communications, I'll be positioned not far from Skye, but Ward you are taking lead on this, do not screw it up. Gemma if you could monitor things from here and set up some secure containment in the lab."

"Just the same as the last 3 times you've said it." Skye looked at her S.O. in confusion. Why was he being like this?

"There is another thing that I need to mention. Director Fury is boarding in a Quinjet in a few minutes. So we stay out of his way, understood? Absolutely no interference by direct order from the Director and that counts making drinks as an excuse to find out what's going on Skye. That area is strictly off limits."

"But what's he doing here?" Ward asked.

"And no questions." Ward rolled his eyes and sunk back into the chair. "Understood?"

There was a mumble of agreement throughout the room and the room began to empty as they began their final preparations.

….

"Simple operation! Simple operation! Ward we nearly got our heads blown off!"

"Calm down Fitz." Ward

"Calm down! Calm down!" Fitz was an unhealthy shade of red and his voice was pitched so highly it nearly exceeded the human hearing range.

"I'm agent Grant Ward and I don't need a briefing," Fitz forced his voice into a terrible American accent and mimicked the way Ward was walking. "Well maybe you're happy being action man and barely making it out alive but I quite like my head where it is thank you!

"Come on Fitz it wasn't that bad." Ward protested

"He has a point you know." May's tone was flat and emotionless as always. She was the only one who seemed untouched by what had just happened. She was calm and cool, without a mark on her, whereas both Fitz and Ward were covered in dust and dirt with several cuts and bruises visible.

"Oh please!"

"What the hell happened?" Skye rushed out of the woods where she had been hiding, watching events unfold.

"We had to change the plan a little." Ward answered coolly.

"A little." Fitz roared again.

"Coulson is not going to be happy." Skye lowered her voice to a whisper.

"No I'm not." They all turned on the spot to see Coulson stood behind them. "You just destroyed an ancient Temple."

"Yes… but technically we got your alien gizmo and it all worked out fine."

"No Ward, it isn't just fine. You were all very lucky today, I could have been easily pulling you out in body bags. Ward you have been behaving like a child for the past few days and this time you put your team's lives in danger. What the hell is wrong with you?"

Ward opened his mouth to protest but Coulson stopped him in his tracks. "No, don't bother, we'll talk about this on the bus."

"What does it even do?" Skye asked. She tried to turn the awkward silence into something more light-hearted, taking the small cylindrical box off her S.O and trying to twist it open.

Fitz quickly snatched out of her hands. "That's what me and Gemma are going to try to find out, so don't start playing with it in case it's some sort of weapon!"

"Sorry." Skye held up her hands and shrugged away. Maybe talking to Fitz when he was angry wasn't the best idea.

"Fitz slow down!" Coulson yelled in warning.

"No, I need to get back to the Bus and get this analysed as soon as possible." Fitz carried on walking looking down at the device in his hand. "Now where did we leave it?" There was a resounding, metallic thud as Fitz ran into something solid and fell backwards onto the leafy ground. Skye ran to help him up but he pushed her off and grumbled to himself as the retroreflective panels disengaged and the plane came into view right in front of them. Ward was trying not to giggle but a swift jab to the stomach from May soon left him coughing instead.

The hanger ramp began to lower and a worried looking Simmons came running down it towards them. "What happened?"

Fitz continued to grumble in annoyance and marched up the ramp pushing past her.

"Fitz?" She asked in concern. Fitz ignored her, clutching his forehead and disappeared through the door into their lab. "Coulson what happened?"

"Go with him Gemma, he's had a bad day." Simmons nodded and scuttled off after her friend.

…

Coulson didn't board the bus straight away. He sat on the edge of the hanger ramp for a while just to gather his thoughts.

All of a sudden Coulson shivered. The air around him got colder and colder and as he moved it felt like treacle. But it was worse than that. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled as they stood on end, he had the feeling that someone was watching him.

"Coulson?" A Strangely familiar voice echoed around him. It was barely a whisper, more like a breath of air but he jumped to his feet. Heart pounding, Coulson whipped his head around, but couldn't see anyone in the hanger. He walked back down the ramp and peered into the forest beyond. But there was nothing. He was met by silence. Utter silence, and there was something incredibly unnerving about it. That's when he realised, there was no sound at all. No birdsong, no sound of the wind through the tree's, nothing. It was the middle of summer, yet the air was cold and perfectly still. It was as if time had stopped.

"You're supposed to be dead!" This time the voice was louder, still faint, but this time Coulson knew who it was.

"Stark?" Coulson frowned in disbelief

Where was it coming from? He couldn't pin it down, it seemed to be coming from everywhere and yet, nowhere, it sounded miles away but it felt like it was right inside his head.

Then the birdsong returned, the chill left his blood and the day seemed to start again. He waited for 10minutes, thoughts swirling round his head. Something was going on and he didn't like it, he didn't like it at all.

…

Ward sat in his bunk with his head in his hands. He had to get a grip. He'd screwed things up today, he'd been cocky and arrogant and nearly blown everything. When he looked up May was stood in his doorway, despite all his training he hadn't heard her approach.

"What's wrong Ward." Her face stayed as stoic as ever. "What happened today, that isn't you."

"I know and it doesn't matter now, it's sorted. I'm sorry about today."

"Just be sure it is sorted. And it's not me you need to apologise to, it's Fitz. I came to give you a heads up that Coulson's on his way."

"Thank you." Ward grimaced internally. Coulson wasn't going to be in a good mood.

No sooner had May left than Coulson appeared. Ward got to his feet immediately and held up his hands.

"Before you start Coulson I need to say that I'm sorry. You're right, I've been an ass the last few days, I let something eat away at me, but I've got myself sorted now and can guarantee that it won't happen again."

"I didn't want to have to discipline you Ward. What happened today was far from acceptable. I've built this team from the ground up and it relies on trust. Today you betrayed that trust. Now some of us are going to be more forgiving than others."

"I'm aware of that Sir, and I can't apologise enough..."

"Save it Ward. As far as I'm concerned you've admitted you had a problem and if you say you've sorted it then I'm not going to dig any deeper, but if you screw up again I want to make it known that this is your one and only warning. What isn't my problem however is how the others feel about you right now, I'm not going to fix that that's your mess, so clean it up."

"Yes Sir."

"So, what are you going to do now?"

Ward sighed. "I'm going to get cleaned up, see medical and then… go apologise to Fitz."

"That's a good start. I'll leave you to it."

…

"Coulson."

"Not again!" Coulson banged his fists down on his desk in frustration and stood up sharply, knocking off his paper's which floated nosily to the floor. He stood up from his desk, storming out of his office and just started to walk the corridors. He'd been hearing the voice on and off now for the last two hours and having spent a considerable time thinking he was going mad, he had now developed a different theory. Stark was messing with him. He'd heard of course that kid had got them one huge step closer to teleportation, now he'd evidently managed to invent something else which was allowing him to torment his favourite SHIELD agent in revenge for him pretending to be dead. He was honestly surprised that it had taken Stark this long to figure out that he was still alive, after all SHIELD had noted almost 100 breaches of their secure server since the battle of New York, which they suspected to be Stark, and those were just the ones where he couldn't be bothered to cover his tracks.

"Coulson… Coulson." Phil just walked faster and tried to ignore it. He wasn't going to let Stark mess with his head. The genius would get bored eventually.

"Coulson, please!" A chill ran down Coulson's spine that made him stop dead in his tracks. It was freezing here and the voice was loud. Louder than he'd ever heard it before. But that wasn't why he stopped, it was he'd said. Stark never begged and the desperation in his voice was unavoidable, in fact he could almost feel it. Now he knew something was wrong, Stark was in trouble.

"Where are you Stark?" Coulson whispered, conscious of being overheard. He realised how mad this whole situation was and he really didn't want to have to explain it to anyone else.

But there was no reply. He waited. Still nothing.

Coulson felt the coldness moving away from him and that always happened before the voice stopped, but he wasn't letting Stark get away this time. As the coldness moved away he followed it. It was moving slowly, continuing down the corridor he was on, it was only a minute later that the coldness settled and stopped. Coulson was stood maybe only 30 metres away from where he had been before. So why had it stopped here?

"Tony where are you?" Coulson spoke louder this time as concern bit at his insides, his own fear bubbling into the background. It remained eerily quiet in the corridor and Coulson feared that he'd lost him.

"Here." The voice was clear and came from behind him. Coulson spun round and fell backwards in shock. Tony was stood there, but was gone before Coulson hit the ground. Coulson staggered to his feet, heart pounding, it was unlike the agent to be ruffled by anything, but he was trying hard to bite back the shock and panic that was whirling uncontrollably inside him. He stood and panted for a moment, resting his hands on his thighs whilst his heart rate began to slow. He straightened up slowly and purposefully, wiping the sweat off his brow with a handkerchief and straightening his suit. Composed, he started to formulate a plan. For a start he needed to establish some facts. Had that really just happened? Or was he actually going mad?

…

Gemma and Fitz bustled about the retrieved alien artefact, thoughts and ideas flying about the room as they worked in a chaotic sort of harmony. Fitz seemed calmer, getting lost in his work rather than thinking of the trauma of a few hours ago.

Ward thought now was as good a time as any to approach the pair, but he did so with extreme caution.

Gemma didn't notice Ward at first, but Fitz seemed to feel his presence instantly and his work ground to a halt. It took a moment for Gemma, engrossed in some data readings, to notice the sudden change in her friend.

"Fitz, what's wrong?" She followed the scientists gaze and her eyes met Ward's, who was holding back in the doorway. "Oh."

"Get out!" Fitz said with great hostility.

"Fitz please, I'm not here to fight I want to…

"Just get out, I don't want to hear anything you have to say!" His Scottish tones raised to a shout.

"Fitz, I'm here to apologise!" Ward was trying very hard not to raise his voice, hoping that by adopting a calm tone Fitz would eventually start to mimic it. There was a moment of silence as Fitz considered the proposal.

"This better be good."

"I know I screwed up today, Fitz. And I'm sorry. I changed the plan but I also know that's not what you are upset about. Things go wrong in the field, you know that, but what happened today shouldn't have happened. I know that fieldwork is still new to you, you're not comfortable out there and I don't mean that as an insult… What I am trying to say is that you expect to be able to put your trust in me and today I was a complete ass, I thought I knew best, I wouldn't listen and I put you all in danger."

Ward took a deep breath and spent a moment to analyse Fitz's body language. His apology seemed to be going down well, Fitz was more relaxed and his steely Scottish stare seemed to bite less harshly than before.

"I betrayed your trust today and I'm not going to make an excuse, you don't want to hear that, but Fitz I'm sorry. I can guarantee you that it won't happen again. I get that trust is not something easily mended but…"

"Shhh!" Fitz hissed and Ward was taken aback.

"Fitz!" Gemma knew Fitz was mad, but that was more than a bit rude.

"No Ermm... Sorry Ward that wasn't aimed at you. You're forgiven, but really just Shush! Can't you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Gemma asked, dumfounded. Ward listened intently, at first he thought Fitz had been making it up and then he heard it. It was unbelievably quiet and dull, he couldn't even make out what it was but there was something going on above them.

"There!" Ward and Fitz yelled simultaneously.

"What was that?" Gemma asked.

"I don't know?" Ward answered. "What's directly above us?"

Fitz loaded the bus schematics "Ermm, it's the interrogation room."

"Isn't that the room the director is using?" Ward asked.

"Yes." Gemma answered, very quickly.

"And isn't it supposed to be…"

"Sound proof, bomb proof everything proof." Fitz answered Ward.

"So why can we hear…"

Ward stopped short as Coulson entered the room and sat down at a computer.

"Can I help you Coulson?" Gemma asked kindly.

"No Thanks Simmons, just checking something on the CCTV…"

Coulson noticed the awkward silence in the room but elected to ignore it. If he was getting suspicious it was more than likely that his team were as well.

"How was your apology then Ward?" Coulson asked, but Fitz answered.

"It was pretty good actually. Might even get over it today. How long did you spend practicing that Ward?"

"A good while."

Gemma giggled nervously, but Coulson seemed to be distracted by his own project.

Coulson scoured the CCTV of the corridor of where he'd been, it seemed to take forever for the footage to fast-forward. He pressed pause when he saw himself pop onto the screen and then let it play on at normal speed. He watched himself stop dead in the corridor, so far so good, but then he just disappeared. He appeared again on the next camera, further down the corridor and facing the opposite direction, picking himself up off the floor.

He played it again, in slow motion, checking the time stamp carefully. He still just seemed to disappear and reappear. He tried it slower, and slower until he reached the minimum playback speed. Only then could he see something, a blurred streak of movement across the two camera feeds. That must have been him walking, whatever had happened it was evident that time had been manipulated.

The power began to ebb and it grew dark in the lab.

"What's happening?" Coulson was on his feet quickly but Fitz was already on the problem. There was a dull thud above their heads and the power drain intensified.

"The noises are getting louder." Gemma said in alarm.

"Noises?" Coulson asked.

"Yes, we heard something just before you got here." Fitz confirmed

"What's up there?"

"The interrogation room." Ward said. "Which is where the director is doing, well… whatever the hell he's doing."

"Isn't that supposed to be bomb proof?" Coulson asked incredulously and Ward just shrugged in response.

"Is it just me or is it really cold in here?" Fitz asked and Coulson snapped round.

"Oh don't worry I think it's the Air-con." Gemma replied. "It's done it a few times today, especially when you were all on mission."

"It's been going cold?" Coulson asked in alarm. "When did it start?"

"Ermm…" Gemma hesitated but Coulson answered for her.

"Since Fury got here?"

"Well yes now you mention it, it wasn't long after the Director had his men take all that equipment up to the interrogation room."

"Equipment, What type of equipment?"

"You were all on the mission and Fury's men… well they completely gutted the interrogation room, from what I can tell. I was trying not to pay attention as you asked, but it was hard. They took a table in there, with restraints attached and a tonne of medical equipment and some not so medical equipment."

"Not so medical…"

"Well it looked like it could be used for a more unsavoury type of interrogation."

"Did you see him take anyone into the room?" Ward asked before Coulson could.

"No, I didn't, but there were so many other ways they could have got someone onto the bus and I was trying to ignore them and focus on the mission."

"Fitz." Coulson beckoned him over. "Where exactly is the corridor on these two camera feeds?" Coulson pointed out the footage he'd been working on."

"Ermmm, well its, ermmm, its two floors up… directly above us."

"So directly above the interrogation room?"

"Yes."

"Coulson, what's going on? Why is the power going weird?" Skye had found her way to the others.

"Not now Skye." Coulson was loading a gun, and it was not the night-night gun.

"Oh my god, what's the gun for?" Skye stepped back a bit in alarm.

"I'm going upstairs, no-one is to follow me."

"Coulson, that room is designed to be impossible to get in or out of, if Fury's locked it down how are you are going to get in there." Ward had his sensible head on, but Coulson wasn't deterred.

His advancement was stopped dead when the whole plane seemed to start shaking. Every piece of glass in the lab exploded sending shards flying everywhere. There was a fizz of electricity as all the computer's shorted and sparks spat into the air. Everyone dove to the ground, shielding themselves from the falling glass but immediately their hands scrabbled to their ears as a deafening unearthly scream cut through the air.

It was the same voice. He'd never heard it in pain like this, but Coulson knew who it was and now, where it was.

The chaos was short lived and soon the plane stabilised with the hum of the engines all that could be heard.

"Scratch that last, Ward, get yourself armed I want you with me. The rest of you stay here." Coulson put his finger to his ear. "May I want you battle ready at the interrogation room right now… May confirm."

"Comms systems are down Coulson, most of the electrics have been fried, we're on emergency power." Simmons explained, a little grazed and somewhat in shock.

"Right, well get them back up."

Coulson didn't hesitate a second longer, he was on his feet with Ward at his heels.

Charging through the dark hallways, Ward was hesitant. Coulson seemed to know exactly what he was walking into, but Ward, he had no idea. He'd heard the questions Coulson had been asking, he was piecing things together and knew a lot more than he was letting on. Contrary to popular belief Ward really didn't like walking into places blind.

Coulson marched up to the interrogation room door and put his hand onto the scanning plate.

"Your handprint won't work Coulson, Fury has locked you out." May walked up behind the pair of them. Coulson moved his hand and raised his gun instead.

May sighed. "And you know all too well that shooting it will get you nowhere."

"Great, any suggestions on how to get in?" Ward threw his hands into the air in frustration. "I mean what are we walking into in there, what is going on Coulson?"

"Save it Ward, you know as much as I do."

"Do you expect me to believe that?"

"Ward, someone is in trouble in there can you stop questioning everything I say and try being part of the solution!"

"Who is in there Coulson? Who? If Fury has got someone in there it will be for a reason, I mean what is this a rescue? Are we here to protect an enemy of SHIELD from our own director?"

"Ward you have no idea…"

"Just stop it the pair of you!" May pushed past Coulson and stood next to the biometric scanner. "If you both would have just stopped fighting for long enough to let me explain, then we could have been in that room 10minutes ago."

"What? How?" Coulson asked, taken aback.

"I've been monitoring what's been going on since we got back on this plane. I know you told us not to, but the energy signatures were threatening the electrical systems, which could have brought the bus down. I knew Fury would lock us all out, so I rewrote myself back into the system in case something like this happened." May placed her hand onto the biometric scanner and it lit up green. Coulson put a hand on her shoulder. He could always rely on May, even when he least expected it.

May burst into the room hot on Coulson's heels, she could feel Ward at her shoulder gun raised and on high alert. She scanned the room, there were 5 people, all down, scattered against the walls like they'd been thrown across the room. What the hell had happened in here? The director was in the corner nearest them, unconscious, but breathing, no sign of external injury. He was fine. Two heavies in the far corner, unconscious, a threat. Ward moved towards them, thinking on the same lines. May continued her scan. Two scientists, untrained, so not a threat and both breathing, they weren't a priority.

Coulson only had one priority.

He entered the room first. The first and only thing he saw was Tony Stark, lying on a table staring blankly at the ceiling. Coulson ran over to him. As he got closer he could see his face was bloodied and bruised, his eyes were empty and his entire body tense.

May stopped short in the room when she realised just who they were here to rescue. "Tony Stark?"

"What?" Ward looked up from where he had been restraining the armed guards. But Coulson didn't even look at them, he carefully started un-taping an IV line that attached to his forearm, removing the long needle that was drip feeding him whatever drug was in that bag.

"Stark?" Coulson shook Tony's shoulder with one hand, carefully peeling off the electrodes from Tony's bare chest with the other.

"Tony, can you hear me" Coulson tugged at his restraints, they were incredibly tight and despite being padded there was a tender purple stain underneath them as he freed Stark's ankles and wrists. Coulson kicked the infusion stand out of the way so could get to Stark's side. The lack of a response from Stark was worrying, in fact, he wasn't breathing. His body was still. Coulson tugged at the strap around his chest in frustration as it refused to come loose.

"Coulson, let me." May started to remove the rest of the restraints so Coulson could focus on the man himself. She gathered up the IV bag attached to the infusion stand, which Coulson had taken such strong offence to, they would need to find out exactly what Stark had been given.

"Stark, come on talk to me." He pressed carefully on Tony's shoulder as he gently removed the strap across his forehead. Tony blinked for the first time and his head twitched as his neck tried to lift it and failed. He gasped a quiet and rasping breath, but it took a moment for him to exhale. He took a few half breaths, but they were laboured and irregular. It was like he was trying to remember how to breathe. The concentration was etched on his face, 'in, out, in out', but his body disobeyed him. Taking a deep breath he eventually he got a good lungful of air and the fear in his eyes started to fade a little. His exhale still came in several stages, with little gasping inhalations disrupting his breaths randomly.

"Stark can you move?" Coulson watched as Tony's hand closed violently, not as he had intended. He couldn't hold it in a fist despite his efforts and his whole arm shuddered involuntarily. Tony's chest tensed and then went into a sharp spasm, causing Coulson to jump and Tony to gasp and groan.

"Ok, Stark, don't try to move." Coulson put a comforting hand on the man's shoulder. There was a deep look of concern and confusion in Tony's eyes and they focused intensely on the only familiar face in the room, Coulson's.

"Fitzsimmons, have you got the Comms working yet."

"Not… ye… Sirr, nearly ther…" The garbled reply came through.

"Ward, have you got them secure?" Ward looked at the two guards he'd tied up and nodded, getting to his feet. "Go tell Simmons to prepare medical."

"No." Came a pained response from the table.

"Stark, now is not the time to argue." Coulson said softly, he waved Ward on, who had hesitated at the door upon hearing Tony's protest.

"Coulson really I'm fine." Tony voice was hoarse and quiet, he nearly choked on the last word causing Coulson to put a sympathetic hand on his chest, steadying him whilst his body spasmed again. "Just… need…. To get used… to it. Need… rest."

"Get used to what?" Coulson asked, puzzled, but Tony's strength was failing and his head suddenly lolled back, eyelids fluttering. "Doesn't matter." He slurred in response.

"Coulson can you hear me?" Simmons voice was finally loud and clear over the comms.

"Go ahead Gemma."

"If you need medical come down to the bunks I've started to set something up here. The power's still out across most of the plane but Fitz has rooted some of the emergency power this far."

"That was quick, Ward can't be with you yet."

"Let's just say we were one step ahead, and Ward… ermmm…"

"I'm here Coulson, I've just arrived."

"Good, you get Simmons whatever she needs."

"Understood."

Coulson turned back to Tony, he didn't seem to have control of any of his muscles, he could see them tensing and relaxing, some slowly, some causing him to jerk violently. He was practically paralysed with pain etched on his face that he couldn't fail to hide.

"Ok Stark, we're going to move you. You ready?"

Tony's head lolled a little, his chin dipping slightly and his eyes closing. That would have to do as a response. Coulson carefully threaded Tony's arm around his neck and placed his own across Tony's shoulders hooking his hand around his ribs. Tony groaned as his whole body jerked violently, his muscles well outside his control. With his other forearm tucked behind Tony's knees, Coulson lifted the man, who he wasn't even as tall as, silently straining as he walked out of the room.

May looked at Coulson as he ran with Stark in his arms. How he was even managing to hold the man like that was incredible, yet alone run with him. She could see the strain in his face and the run soon became more of a shuffle They rounded another corridor and approached the stairs to go up to the top floor and Coulson paused, trying to figure out how he was going to manage this. Footsteps could be heard on the metal steps, coming their way, much to May's relief it was Ward.

"Ward, will you take Stark up to Simmons." May didn't really ask, it was more of an order."

Ward handed May a list to free up his hand and slipped Tony out of Coulson's arms and into his own. Coulson visibly breathed again as the weight was lifted and the strain relieved.

"Simmons asked me to get the stuff off there." Ward nodded to the list he had given May.

"I'll sort it." May nodded and disappeared back from where they had come.

…

Gemma waited nervously with Skye and Fitz for her 'patient' to arrive. Everything had been all go and the three of them had been feeling rather shut out. Gemma didn't know who was coming to her, she didn't know what state they were in and she had so many other questions running through her head and making it hard to focus on the job she was about to do. That job, which was already going to be hard enough as it was with the power out in the medical bay. It was a very strange design flaw she thought. They had enough power for the auto-pilot, but not enough for the medical-bay? She would have to get Fitz to reprioritise things in the emergency protocol... Anyway that meant that she had limited equipment and limited space. The bunks were barely big enough for a single bed with the smallest floor space possible; this was a far from ideal situation.

"Simmons you ready?" She heard Ward before she saw him, fast, heavy footsteps and deep breathing approached fast from further down the corridor.

"Yes." She supposed, ready as she could be anyhow.

Ward ran toward the bunk ushering Fitz and Skye out of the way. Ward brought Tony into the bunk head first as Simmons squeezed herself into the corner to stay out of the way. The angle meant that Skye and Fitz saw her patient's face first.

"Oh My God." Skye stepped back even more confused than before. How did any of this make sense?

"That's Tony Stark!" Fitz exclaimed. Shocked was an understatement, Fitz had always wanted to meet Stark, as had Gemma, he was after all one of this century's greatest minds, but why the hell was Tony Stark on the bus? "Gemma, that's…" Fitz stuttered, unable to think of anything meaningful to say.

Gemma's head spun for a moment, emotions flooded her and made her feel dizzy. Ward lay Tony down as gently as he could, but the way he was jerking as his muscles spasmed made it very difficult.' Deep breath' Gemma told herself, 'regain your composure.'

"It doesn't matter who he is." Gemma said to Fitz, he was just a patient, not a genius multibillionaire member of the Avengers and one of her personal heroes… He was just another person and she had one job.

"Ward talk me through what you know."

"Ermmm… well he was on a drip, I don't know what of, May was bringing it but she's getting the rest of your stuff. He's in pain… Obviously" Ward took a breath "he was conscious and talking for a while but doesn't seem to have any control over his muscles.

"Ok, Fitz get that IV bag off May and find out what's in it."

"On it." Fitz was on his feet at the mention of his name.

Simmons inspected Tony, looking carefully for signs of injury. He was currently unconscious, but his body kept twitching periodically which was more than a bit worrying.

"How is he?" Coulson asked, pushing his way into the small space with Gemma and Ward.

"Well, we've got cuts and bruising to the face, a potential broken nose and fractured cheek bone, I'd say caused by one, or more likely more than one punch. There's also the bruising to the wrists, ankles and chest but as far as I can tell there is nothing major. The spasms must be a side effect of whatever drug he had in his system, but I've never seen a reaction quite like this."

"Do you know what the drug is?"

"Fitz has headed down to the lab."

"Fitz, have you any news for us?" Coulson asked through Comms.

"Give us a chance! I've only just found May. I'm on my way to the lab but with such low power it's going to be difficult."

"May are you nearly here, I really need those monitors?" Gemma pushed her earpiece a little further into her ear.

"I'm on route."

"Ok," Gemma breathed. She put the back of her hand onto Tony's forehead and jumped a little in alarm. "Oh, wow he's burning up." In the dim emergency lighting it was difficult to see the glistening beads of sweat that had broken out across his skin.

"Here." Skye reached into the room passing Gemma two bottles of cold water and a handful of flannels.

"Thank you Skye, you're a Godsend!" Simmons wetted the flannels, draping one across his forehead and another across his neck, using the last to dab across his collarbones and nervously avoiding the arc reactor in his chest. This was not good, she had no idea what his internal temperature was but she had a feeling it was bad. His skin was flushed and burning hot, he was completely drenched with sweat and between his muscles spasms he was clearly shivering. "Can someone get some ice please, this isn't going to cut it." Simmons sucked in a deep breath and tried to calm down. Her hands were trembling slightly as she poured more of the cold water onto the cloths.

"I'm on it!" Skye jumped up and disappeared, glad to be of any use possible.

"He's getting worse?" Coulson's frown deepened, though as usual he failed to show any more emotion than that.

"Yes Sir, his fever is out of control."

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Coulson's tone was harsh and it only caused Gemma to panic more.

"I'm sorry sir but I can't, there I things I could give him for the fever but…"

"But what?"

"They could react badly with whatever he's been given on the IV line, it could kill him."

"Fitz how far away are you from identifying the substance?"

"Minutes."

"Do better!" Coulson was getting quite irate and Gemma felt her chest tightening up.

"Simmons." May announced her presence, her arms bundled full of wires and monitors. She instantly noticed the tension in the room. Everyone was distressed, Coulson was near frantic with worry and Gemma was taking the brunt of it. Ward looked calm, but she knew too well that if everyone else was on edge that it would be making him agitated.

"Ward, Coulson out!" It was bad enough for Gemma without the two men taking up most of the little space she had to work and their presence was not helping in the slightest. As May ushered them out and started to help setting up the medical equipment Gemma mouthed a silent thank you. May put a hand on her shoulder and whispered to her. "You are doing really well."

Coulson had been reluctant to leave and now was lingering right at the door. Gemma kept glancing up at him, buckling under the pressure of his gaze as she started attaching electrodes to Tony's chest.

"Move right back or I will shut this door." May stood up and looked Coulson in the eyes, they pleaded with her to let him stay but she stood firm. "The pair of you just sit in those chairs, you are literally only metres away you are not going to miss anything." They obliged and Gemma could finally start to focus all of her attention on Stark.

Finally the monitors fired up and Simmons could start to find out what was going on, but as soon as the screens flickered into life they started beeping in alarm.

"Oh My Gosh!" Gemma gasped.

"Talk me through it Simmons." May's voice was level and calm, giving Gemma the confidence to carry on.

"Well, his temperature is beyond dangerous, its 42 centigrade! If we don't cool him down now he will die. Heart rate, very high but that will be because of the temperature it's his electrical signal that's the problem, it's completely erratic, I don't even know how his heart is managing to beat properly."

"Ok, first things first let's cool him down. Skye where are you with that ice?" May asked

"Here, here!" She yelled as she came into the bunk wielding numerous bags of ice.

The monitor started to scream, its rapid beeps making Skye jump and causing Coulson and Ward to snap to their feet. Tony's heart rate flew up to 200bpm, his back arched and wrists curled inwards, his fingers doing the same.

"He's having a seizure." Gemma said as calmly as she could manage, but the strain was evident in her voice.

"What do we do?" Coulson asked

"Just step back." Gemma said calmly. Tony's neck strained and choked noises escaped from his throat, his legs kicked and his chest lurched upward sporadically. Gemma stayed close, keeping a close eye on the monitors. She tried to keep the ice packs balance on him as he writhed, and was poised, ready to stop him falling off the bed.

Everyone felt sick and helpless. Thankfully the convulsions didn't last long, two minutes later Stark's body grew stiller than it had been so far, though the occasional twitch put everyone on edge.

"His temperature is coming down now." Gemma said quietly, pale and drained from the stress. Coulson and Skye visibly exhaled, whilst Ward just let his shoulders sink further into the chair.

"Err Gemma we have a problem." Fitz's voice crackled in over the radio and stopped Gemma dead in her tracks

"Fitz what is it?"

"The drug in that bag… Well the computer is saying etorphine, but that can't be right so I'm checking again."

"Etorphine?" Gemma exclaimed.

"What's etorphine?" Skye asked as she walked in with the towels and water she'd been sent to retrieve.

"Etorphine is an incredibly powerful painkiller and sedative that is completely toxic to humans. One milligram of the stuff will knock out a 2 tonne Rhino."

"So they were keeping him sedated?" May asked.

"Well I assume, but that should have killed him, even the tiniest amount is fatal to humans. If that's what they were giving him, he should be dead."

"Gemma, it's definitely etorphine, there's no doubt. I'm heading back up."

"Ok, thank you Fitz."

"So what does this mean Simmons?" Coulson asked.

"Ermmm, well, apart from the fact he should be dead I'm not sure… I mean, the drug shouldn't have caused those spasms… the fever, maybe… it just doesn't quite add up… unless his nervous system's been damaged, but then he wouldn't have recovered so quickly, or at all in fact."

"Didn't Stark say he was fine and he just needed to get used to it." May contributed.

"Used to What?" Gemma asked incredulously.

"We don't know, he wasn't making sense." Coulson said.

Gemma's head snapped back to Stark as he groaned and started to come around. His fists started to clench and unclench as his eyes opened, panting for air.

"It's ok Mr. Stark we're just trying to help, please just stay calm." Tony wasn't responding at all to Gemma's voice, he was looking around in confusion and became more restless at the lack of a familiar face. May moved out of the bunk and beckoned Coulson back in.

Tony groaned again and Coulson's attention was immediately drawn to his hands. Having had no control when he'd first found him, Stark was now able to close and open his fist at will and it appeared that Tony was trying to test his finer movement. He turned his hands so his palms faced upwards and pressed each finger slowly to his thumb in turn. It seemed a huge effort and the concentration was written on Tony's face.

"Stark take it easy." Coulson moved further into the room so that he was in Stark's line of sight.

"Is there anything I can help with?" Fitz asked, having returned from the lab.

"Just be on standby Fitz." Gemma said sweetly.

Tony repeated the action, again and again each time getting a bit faster and sharper. Finally his fingers responded normally and Gemma noticed he was curling his toes and rolling his ankles at the same time, checking that he had his control back. Staring at the ceiling Tony started to grow restless. He reached for the wires attached to his chest, trying to figure out what the unfamiliar feeling was. Coulson took his wrist gently to stop him from dislodging the electrodes.

"It's ok Tony, you're safe, you're with friends."

He stopped moving for a second, gulping in some deep breaths and Coulson relaxed a little, knelt beside the bed. Suddenly Tony pulled his leg up, bending it at the knee and rolled towards them so that he lay on his side.

"Oh no, I'm sorry Mr. Stark I need you on your back, the wires aren't long enough." Gemma exclaimed. Sure enough, Tony's new position was tugging in the wires attached to his chest.

"Come on Tony," Coulson put his hand on Tony's shoulder and tried to push him back onto his back. Tony rolled a little but resisted. "Don't fight me Stark." He pushed a little harder and Tony rolled away from him. But as soon as Tony's shoulders hit the mattress he started to get agitated, his breathing quickened and he shifted uncomfortably. Without warning he rolled back, trying again to get onto his side. He resisted much more strongly this time, gripping onto the edge of the bed to prevent Coulson from turning him. "Ward a little help." Coulson beckoned with his head, while his arms wrestled to try and keep Tony off his side.

Ward jumped off the couch and joined Coulson in his struggle. Tony seemed to realise that he was no match for the two men's combined strength, so instead he used the momentum to roll away from them onto his other side, must to their frustration.

"Ow shit!" Ward was knocked back into the wall as Tony's arm flicked round as he rolled, hitting Ward square in the face. Skye giggled a little, having been looking so hard for some light in this dark situation, but Ward did not look amused. The monitor beeped and flat lined as the wires finally reached their limit and popped off Tony's chest one by one.

May got back up to help but immediately stopped when she saw a flash of silver and blue.

"Coulson wait!" Coulson had been ready to try and roll Tony back again, but turned his head to see the reason for May's objection. On his side Tony instantly calmed down, settling down to be quiet and still for the first time since they'd found him. He was calm, comfortable and his breathing was even. But that is not what had drawn May's attention and once the others saw it the room fell silent.

"What's that on the back of his neck?" Fitz asked

"Don't touch it!" Coulson shouted as Fitz reached out to inspect the device.

"Why, what is it Coulson?" May asked

"I don't know." Coulson admitted. "I just have a feeling we shouldn't interfere."

"Well it's a shame you couldn't have listened to that order earlier Coulson." Everyone turned on the spot as the biblical voice came from behind them. Fury looked unusually dishevelled and very, very angry.

"Director." Coulson stood up and walked out into the open.

"I order you to hand Stark back over to me."

"He's not a piece of meat!" Skye yelled in protest.

"Skye stay out of this." Coulson said calmly. "Let's take this upstairs shall we Director."

"Last time I checked I was the one giving the orders." Fury raised his eyebrow.

"And last time I checked we didn't take kidnap members our own Avengers."

"Are you questioning me Coulson?"

"Yes Sir I am."

"There are things at play here Coulson that you don't know about."

"Then maybe you could enlighten me. But Tony Stark is not leaving my team's presence until I can be sure of his safety." Coulson said simply. Fury stopped in his tracks and just blinked in bewilderment.

Then he did the unthinkable. Fury rolled over. "Alright Coulson we'll do this your way." Coulson tried very hard not to act surprised, he kept a straight face but Skye couldn't help gawking behind him.

"Right, well, we'll take this in my office." Coulson nodded, but Fury didn't go he just lingered, waiting for Coulson. Fury always had an ulterior motive, Coulson knew that, he had to watch Stark's back.

Coulson beckoned his team closer.

"I know this is asking a lot, but do not let Fury near him, not even for a second." Coulson said, his voice a whisper

"But he's the director." Fitz hissed.

"Yeah and he did this." Skye exclaimed a little too loudly gaining a wince from the team.

"We don't know exactly what he did." Ward said after a pause.

"Regardless, we keep Stark where we can see him." May said, she knew Fury and she knew he couldn't be trusted.

"Do I get a say in this?" A voice came from the bunk behind them.

"Tony!" Coulson exclaimed, the man was already sat up.

"Mr. Stark, Sir you really should be resting!"

"Save it Gemma, he never listens."

"You know me too well Agent. Anyone got a shirt?" Tony said quietly, pulling the electrodes off his chest.

"Well it is my bunk, I should know where I keep my shirts." Ward reached over the bed and pulled open a drawer throwing Tony a shirt, which he put on gratefully.

Ward offered a hand as Tony went to stand up. His legs were barely able to take his weight at first, but no-one said anything. The determined look on Tony's face was evident, he _was_ going to stand and he _was_ going to walk. It took a moment but he took his own weight and stood up tall, patting Coulson on the shoulder.

"Thanks for your help Coulson, but I'll handle it from here."

"Tony…" Coulson said, deeply concerned. The look in Tony's eye was slightly scary, Stark was known to SHIELD for his secrecy, after all he'd been dying and had told no-one, but something was telling Coulson that even though this was far too big for Stark to deal with himself he was going to try it anyway.

"I've got this Phil." Tony said simply. May looked at him in confusion. She couldn't read him, at all. She glanced to Ward and they made eye contact in which they spoke to each other silently. Neither of them could get read on Stark, and that was a first for both of them.

Tony walked across the room slowly but purposefully. Nick Fury looked almost nervous as Tony approached. For a moment Tony just stood in front of the taller man, looking him in the eye. Nobody said anything, the room was eerily silent save the thrum of the engines.

Tony's arm snapped out and his fist hit Fury square in the face. Fury grunted and clutched his nose, staggering a few steps backward. Everyone silently gasped. They couldn't believe that had just had just witnessed. What was stranger was that Fury didn't say anything.

"Fuck off back to your Helicarrier Nick." Tony spat. "My help is no longer on offer to shield." Fury shook his head a little, still reeling from Starks left hook. "Now get out of my sight." Fury looked across the room and met no friendly gaze. He paused for a moment and then traipsed back up the stairs, disappearing from sight.

The room stayed silent as Tony didn't move, He seemed to be taking time to gather his thoughts, composing himself and it made everyone nervous.

May could tell that Tony Stark played the fact that everyone thought he was just a billionaire in a suit. He wanted people to underestimate him, but she wasn't going to make that mistake. There was something about him, something that made her certain that she never wanted to test him and that she would probably lose if she did.

"Thank you." Tony turned to Coulson and his team with a great deal of sincerity in his tone. "Looks like I owe you all one."

Nobody spoke for a moment but Simmons broke the silence.

"Mr. Stark are you sure you're all right?" Gemma asked in concern. What had just happened to him, was not normal and she couldn't believe that he was suddenly just alright.

"What's your name?" Tony asked and Gemma was a little taken aback.

"Simmons, Gemma Simmons." Then she saw something dawn on Tony's face.

"And you're Leopold Fitz right?"

"Yes Mr. Stark." Fitz answered and Tony smiled, he clearly knew their names. He started writing down something on a piece of paper he'd picked up from the coffee table at the centre of the room and continued to speak. "You can drop the formalities, It's Tony… And if either of you need something, equipment, labs, an eye to look over your work… anything… this is my private number."

He handed the paper to Fitz who just stood, gawping, staring at the paper in his hand like it was made of gold. "Call me."

Tony made a swift move to leave the room. It may have been full of people who had just risked a lot to help him, but it was, bar Coulson, a room of perfect strangers who had just seen a hell of a lot more than he was comfortable with.

"I better go fix the lights on this thing." He announced as he left the room.

"Did you see that? He just punched the Director like Pow." Skye fist bumped her S.O. on the arm in excitement. "That was so awesome! I bet that hurt so bad, Tony Stark knows how to punch."

"Yes… Yes he certainly does." Ward said, still cradling a tissue under his own bleeding nose.

"I can't believe that just happened. Did that really just happen?" Fitz whispered, still holding the piece of paper now Gemma was hovering around it in awe too.

"Yes Fitz it did. Seems like Iron Man just made your year!" Skye went to look at the number and Fitz scooped it away from her and into his chest.

"Don't touch it, you might damage."

"Wow Jesus, why don't you two just go get it framed so you can worship it."

"That's a brilliant idea!" Fitz exclaimed and the two scientists scuttled off.

"I was joking!" Skye called after them. "Are they for real?" She asked May.

"It would seem so. I'll be in the cockpit if anyone needs me."

"Yes, I want everyone back to work ASAP. Would you please remind Fitzsimmons that we still have a potentially unstable alien artefact on board that needs more urgent attention than Tony Stark's phone number. Although I would like a copy of that, it might come in useful the next time he's trying to ignore me." Coulson pulled out his phone and started looking intently as the screen as he walked away from Ward and Skye. "And there's also a tonne of broken glass down in the lab which needs clearing up so get to it."

"Yes boss."

…

"So Stark…" Coulson had given the man an hour on his own after the power had come back on and was surprised to find Tony still working, despite the fact everything on the plane was in perfect working order. "Are you going to give me anything?"

"Well I'm giving you a much better electrical system for this plane."

"You know that's not what I meant." Tony didn't even bother looking at Coulson, just carrying on with his work. "Simmons should look at that." Coulson said looking at Tony's bruised hand.

"Nah I'm good."

"Tony you've probably popped a knuckle. The director's face is certainly one hell of a mess."

"He deserved it." He said bluntly and Coulson had no doubt that he did. "Is he still here?"

"No, he left in the Quinjet about an 90 minutes ago." Coulson saw the noticeable relief in Tony when he said that, so decided to probe further. "You going to tell me how your face ended up a mess."

"Nope." Tony said bluntly. He was no sporting one hell of a shiner and the way he held his face when he was talking told Coulson he may well have a broken jaw too.

"Come on Stark! I hear you calling me in the corridors, I think I'm going mad and then I see you just standing there and you disappear like a flash. My plane nearly explodes, I find you in such a state you nearly die, freaking out my team in the process and then to top it all off you have me piss off the king of superspies to keep you safe. I think I deserve something in return. At the very least I want you to know that you're ok, so please go and see Simmons."

"She's done enough and I'm fine… I'll fix myself." There was something about the way Tony said that last part that made his stomach roll.

"You mean that literally don't you." Tony looked at Coulson but he couldn't get a read. "How?"

Tony just sighed and tried to avoid Coulson's gaze. Coulson deserved an explanation, but he wasn't in the mood to pour his heart out.

"I picked up something when I came through that wormhole." Tony started. "Turns out I got possessed by something that has the power to destroy, well, pretty much the entire universe. To cut a very long story short it went from possessing me to being a part of me. But controlling it… hasn't been going well. Anyway, my 'powers' we're really scaring the Avengers so Steve dobbed me in to Fury. One minute I was asleep on my couch the next I was strapped to a table with this in my neck." Tony tapped the implant that they had all been so wary of. "I made it to stop me accessing the powers, but it wasn't quite ready. Things had got to the point where I was going to have to use it anyway, incomplete or not. But Fury made that decision for me. This inhibitor, it kind of screws with my nervous system, I hadn't got the calibration quite right so putting it in… well it was rougher than I expected, hence the state I was in when you found me."

"You had powers?" Coulson was really taken aback. This was one hell of a lot crazier than he had expected. "What kind of powers."

"Smashing things, causing blackouts, telekinesis and this weird shielding thing, I don't really know what else."

"Telepathy and Astral projection… time manipulation." Coulson reminded him.

"Yeah, you say that I was calling out to you… but I don't really remember that happening. Honestly this thing seems to make up what powers it has as it goes along."

"And healing I'm guessing. You were on a drug designed to knock out elephants. Simmons says you should be dead."

"So should you!" Tony exclaimed. "Chitauri sceptre through the heart. I thought _I_ was dead when I woke up and saw you."

Coulson looked into Tony's eyes. "How long have you really known I was alive?"

"I found out about a month after the battle when I was digging through SHIELD's secure server."

"I really wish you'd stop doing that."

"I will… when your tech guys improve their security enough so I can't get in."

"So that would be never."

"Yes." Tony said with a smirk.

"Did you see anything about Tahiti when you were 'digging around'?"

"No… I was after something specific. Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Coulson had let himself have hope for a moment that Stark had managed to find out more than he'd been able to himself. Hoping was never a wise move. He'd just have to keep digging quietly.

"It's really good to see you Phil." Tony patted him on the shoulder in a gesture that the agent really wasn't expecting from Stark.

"Likewise."

"Can I borrow a phone? I've got some things to sort out and Pepper will be frantic I imagine."

"Yes, you do keep getting kidnapped."

"Ha, this is the third time now."

"Third time, when was the second?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that part. I kind of got taken prisoner by Odin for four months."

"What?"

"Yeah, it gets weirder, but I'll save that for another time."

Coulson handed Stark his phone. "Say Hi to Pepper for me."

"Are you sure? Isn't you being alive supposed to be this big secret?"

"Oh yeah. I keep forgetting that." Coulson said, disappointed.

"Where are we going to be landing? I'll need to get someone to pick me up."

"We'll take you to your place if you want?"

"The tower? That's kind of you Coulson but I'm not going back there."

"Where do you want to go? We'll drop you anywhere you want."

"Let me make a call and I'll get back to you."

"Fine, I'll be outside."

…

"Miss Potts I have the mechanic on the line." Her assistant said through the phone.

"A mechanic, I don't need a mechanic. There's nothing wrong with my car."

"He's says it's to do with an Audi R8."

"That's Tony's car not mine and he would never let anyone touch that."

"I'm sorry Miss Potts, he's insisting he speak to you."

"It has to be a scam. Just hang up. Tony would never call a mechanic, he is 'the mechanic'." Then suddenly it dawned on her.

"Ok…" Her assistant said.

"No wait! Put him through, now."

"Hello…" There was a anxious pause as silence met her ears.

"Hello Pep."

"OMG Tony! Thank God! You have to stop dping this to me! Are you ok? Please tell me you're ok. Where are you? We've been looking everywhere, Rhodey and Bruce are out of their minds and it's been chaos in the tower, everyone's fighting I don't want to look at Steve and…"

"Pepper… deep breath." Tony reminded her.

"Ok I'm sorry."

"How long was I gone this time."

"This is a record, it's been less 48hours, you're improving."

"Well I'm glad I've pleased someone… Look Pepper I'm fine, in fact, this whole thing might even be over."

"What do you mean?" Pepper sounded both confused and excited.

"I can't explain right now. I'll talk to you when I get back. Can you set up the protocols to have my stuff moved to Malibu? I'll see you there."

"No wait Tony, I can't do anything!"

"What? Why?"

"Jarvis has gone into lockdown, everything is back to manual."

"Oh God the protocols! Security was breached so he's shut down to protect my files from being stolen." That really put a spanner in Tony's plan, he really hadn't wanted to go back to the tower. "I'll have to do a full set of tests to get back into the system." He groaned over the line.

"Tony I don't want you to have to come back here." Pepper knew that Tony was trying to avoid coming back to the tower. In fact Pepper would have got out of there the day Tony was taken if she didn't also work there. She couldn't believe that Steve of all people had betrayed Tony like that. Bruce hadn't come out of the green room for nearly a day and when he had he'd refused to talk to Steve or Natasha. Rhodey was furious, she'd been keeping him away for fear of what he might do. Clint was trying to pull the team together, he could see Steve's distress at the whole situation and kind of understood why he'd done it. They _had_ needed help, things had got well out of control but Steve's timing and his method were completely off. They should have let Tony calm down and talked this through, together, as a _team_. Tony was untrusting at the best of times and they'd only just really started to build a good relationship between them all, now it was in pieces. Whenever any of them where in the room together it ended in an argument or very nearly a punch up.

"It's Ok Pepper, I'm going to have to." Pepper sighed internally. This was not the position she wanted Tony to be in. She didn't want to have to face the person who had just betrayed him.

"I'll see you in a few hours."

"Take care of yourself Tony."

Tony hung up the phone. "Can I take you up on that lift to New York Coulson?"

"Of course." Coulson nodded and pressed a finger to his Comms. "May, set a course for Stark tower."

"No problem."

 **Right New title... Vote yes or no via the poll on my profile. Here's a few I was thinking of, any you particularly like?**

 **1) Beyond this juncture**

 **2) That which that defines us**

 **3) Those nightmares we hide**

 **Please vote, I only aim to please my readers and I'm open to other title suggestions.**

 **I really tried to tell this from a different perspective and keep Tony's thoughts and feelings out as much as possible. They will come in dribs and drabs over the next few chapters. I hope this wasn't too confusing, although it was kind of the point to leave you with a few questions and gaps that will get filled over time.**


	21. Chapter 21- No going back

**Yes I'm back.**

 **I'm not going to apologise for life getting in the way and as I said, I'll always be back.**

 **Thanks for the great suggestions on the title, it's given me some real food for thought, but I'm not going to rush into anything just yet.**

 **Cut this chapter a little shorter than anticipated as its difficult getting back into the swing of things and that way I could give you an update sooner rather than later.**

 **It's all kicking off in Avengers tower.**

 **Chapter 21- No going back**

Tony was swimming. He could have sworn it. But it felt different. It took him a while to figure out why. He was swimming, but not in water. He was trapped in the space between sleep and the real world. Every now and then he could feel the waves get stronger and pull him back onto the shores of life. He'd get a glimpse of harsh white lighting but through the veil of a heavy cloud which bore down on him, paralysing him. There were others present, he wasn't sure who, their voices raised in alarm when they saw his eyes open. Then shortly after there was a flash of pain in the centre of his face, before he was sucked back away with the current.

Each time he spent less and less time swimming, falling back to shore more quickly. He could hear more, feel more, but every time he opened his eyes the same thing happened, he was pulled away and he couldn't fight it.

So the next time he felt the sturdiness of reality unfold around him, he didn't move. He kept his eyes closed and let the world become more solid. He tried hard not to change his breathing or so much as twitch. As he started to piece things together the voices around him became clearer.

The last thing he remembered was falling asleep, safe and warm. But now he was here, wherever _here_ was. He calmed his thoughts and tried to listen to the sounds around him.

"I'm sorry Director but I cannot find a way of separating the energy signature from Mr. Stark."

"There must be something."

Tony knew that voice, he knew it well. Nick Fury. So he was with SHIELD. That meant only one thing. One of his 'team' had ratted on him, one of them had told Fury. He felt betrayed, he felt furious. He'd trusted them and now he was lying on a cold metal table, he could feel straps digging into to him, holding him down, paralysing him.

"I'm sorry Sir, this is beyond earth's technology. The only way to purge the energy signature is if Mr. Stark were to die." A young voice cut through Tony's trail of thought. They were trying to figure out how to cure him, how quaint.

"Well that isn't an option, he still has his uses."

Tony nearly scoffed out loud, but held himself.

"Well I'm sorry Sir, but I can't fix the problem."

"You people are supposed to be some of the world's best scientists and you can't find a solution!"

"It's integrated completely into his brain and nervous system."

"Well un-integrate it then! And that's not a request that's an order."

Although it was amusing hear Fury struggle with the same problem he had for months Tony had, had enough. Time to end his little ruse.

"Why don't you check out that little metal box you stole from my lab?" Tony croaked, finally sick of pretending to be asleep. He could feel the alarm in the air, bodies tensed and heart beats quickened. He still didn't open his eyes.

"Up that sedative now!" Fury barked and the medics started to scuttle.

"Don't bother Nick, it hasn't been working for the last three rounds you put in. I'm just burning it right off."

"Try something stronger."

"Sir we don't have anything…

"Why don't you just take my advice?" Tony sighed and relaxed against his restraints.

"Well find something!" Fury's voice rose into a roar. Literally everyone in the room was trying their best to ignore Tony's presence. It was like he didn't exist, well, not as a person anyway.

"For Fuck's sake Nick, I'm trying to help you, you jackass!" Tony's raised voice had the desired effect. The room stopped dead. Tony started to open his heavy eyes. The sedative may not be fully effective, but he could certainly feel it pumping through his veins. Everyone was staring at him in shock and fear, Fury however was as expressionless as ever.

Tony tried to shift himself so he could see the room better, but the straps dug in tightly so he gave up and sunk back onto the hard metal.

"Think about it Fury, I've known about this for months, don't you think I'd have got at least half way to finding a solution."

"So have you Stark, found a solution?"

"Yes."

"Care to share?"

"I told you it's in that little grey box." Tony was pissed. He'd never been so pissed off in his life and he wasn't going to make this easy for them.

Fury clicked his fingers and one of the medics handed him the item in question. He flipped opened the box roughly, Tony bit his tongue, did he have no respect? It was incredibly delicate after all.

"So Stark, what is it."

"Let me out of these and I'll show you."

"I don't think so Stark."

"Nick, seriously don't you realise that if I want to I could bring this plane down by just thinking about it…

"Are you threatening me Stark?"

"No, For God's sake, No. I'm just making the point that I have all the power in the world at my fingertips and you think that these stupid rubber bands are going to stop me getting what I want. Right now you have my goodwill, yet you've kidnapped me, drugged me and tied me to a table. Now if I were you, knowing what I can do, I'd be trying to stay on my sweet side, don't you think? Use your head Fury and let me out before you get to see how pissed off I really am."

Fury didn't look convinced, Tony would have torn his hair out there and then, _if_ he could have moved his arms. "Fury, if you think you want rid of this CAEB I can assure you, I want it gone ten times more than you can even imagine. I've found a solution and I can't show you what it is when I'm tied to a table!"

"Fine, release him."

Tony sighed and rubbed his wrists as he was finally allowed to sit up. He ached all over, it was like he'd slept inside a tumble drier. His head pounded, but his nose and jaw were particularly sore. He reached up and touched his face, flinching as pain shot through it, he could feel the wet sticky texture of his own blood as it dripped from his nose and coated the side of his face.

"You punched me?" Tony looked around incredulously. "You had me drugged up and you punched me?"

"I needed to make sure you stayed sedated."

"And you kept miscalculating." Tony said un-impressed.

"Yes."

"So you punched me, in the face?" Tony said very slowly.

"Shall we get on Stark?" Fury sighed handing him the box.

Tony carefully took out the inhibitor, it was small, just slightly bigger than the tip of his thumb and paper thin. He cradled it carefully in the palm of his hand and stared at it for a while.

"So how does it work?" Fury said impatiently and Tony huffed in annoyance.

"It's a neural implant, put it on the back of my neck and two needles will drill into the CAEB's brain stem and basically inhibit the CAEB's electrical signals by producing an equal and opposite signal of its own."

"Can it be disabled?"

"Yes. The effect can be adjusted across a complete spectrum, from my current state, which is having full accesses to the CAEB's power, to cutting off the CAEB completely." Tony neglected to mention the kill-switch, only three people would have access to that.

"What's it set too now?"

"I've calibrated it as best I can to block out all the CAEB and just leave me, but it's not quite right yet, the transition when I put it in needs working on, if you give me 24hours after you drop me off, Bruce and I can have it in and working and you can sleep easy."

"I'm sorry Stark but I can't have you walking around out there unless this thing is on."

"I told you I'll have it working in 24hours, I can only make the alterations from my lab."

"You leave here with the inhibitor in pace or you don't leave here at all." Fury's serious tone was undermined by the clunk of a gun loading. The two armed guards edged in closer with their automatic weapons.

Tony would have loved to have said he wasn't intimidated, but that wasn't strictly true. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, although partly in anger that he'd let himself get into another situation like this. Truth be told he was worried, he was backed into a corner and you should never back an animal into a corner and his animal was more dangerous than most. He was also playing a poor set of cards, he wanted Fury to feel threatened by him, so he could have things his own way, but he was very much bluffing about the control he had of his powers and Fury was calling that bluff.

"Seriously. You want to play this game."

"Do you?"

They stared at each other for a moment. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. Then Fury upped his game.

"Do you think after what happened the other night they are going to want you back there, experimenting? Do you think Banner is still going to want to help you?"

Tony glared at Fury's eye with a rage he'd not felt in a long time, he wanted to grab the man by the throat and slam him into the wall. He wanted to tear the wings off the plane… but somehow he held himself. The last thing he wanted to do was succumb to Fury, the inhibitor was operational, but it wasn't perfect, he wanted to get it right, but he didn't have any more time, he knew that. But this was going to hurt, he just wanted to be somewhere safe, somewhere private and surrounded by the people he could trust.

There was no other option. But he wanted to know something first.

"Roger's or Romanov?" Tony said sadly.

"I'm sorry?" Fury exclaimed in frustration.

"Who phoned you? Rogers or Romanov?"

Fury didn't answer and Tony sighed and nodded, that said it all. "Steve." He closed his eyes for a moment and Fury didn't deny it.

Tony pressed his thumb onto the surface of the inhibitor and it lit up green. He passed it to Fury very carefully and this time the looming man took it more gently.

"It's activated by biometrically, so far it's just coded to me and Banner and before you ask no, I'm not writing you or any of your SHIELD spies in on this. This stays with me. It has to be positioned perfectly which it senses itself, once it goes green it will deploy with a 60 second delay."

"Hold him." Fury's Guards grabbed Tony and pushed his head down towards his knees. He tried to kick out but quickly realised his legs were still tied down.

"Jesus Fury what the hell!" Fury just ignored Stark and passed the inhibitor to one of the scientists. Why did they have to be dressed in white coats? He could feel them sliding the inhibitor around at the base of his hairline, failing to find the right spot.

"You have to move it lower around the C6-C7 vertebrae." The young scientist obliged silently and after a small amount of wiggling the green light flashed on. The inhibitor made an electronic whir as the needles deployed burrowing into Tony's neck.

Tony shuddered as the back of his neck burnt, but the pain lasted only for a second. The Heavies let go and he slowly sat back up. 50 seconds.

"Well Fury you better strap me down now."

"Why?"

"Is this room bomb proof?" 45 seconds.

"Well yes."

"Then I suggest you strap me down and get your ass the other side of that door in the next 40 seconds."

"Why Stark?"

"Cos I don't know exactly what's about to happen but I imagine it's going to get pretty ugly."

35seconds. "Fine strap him down!" Tony was pressed down onto the table again and the men weren't gentle in their haste to apply the restraints.

"You gonna get yourself out of here? You don't have much time." 15seconds.

"We're not going anywhere."

Tony huffed, he was starting to feel very shaky. 10 seconds.

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

5, 4, 3, 2, 1… deploy.

Then there was nothing but pain. He couldn't stop the primal scream that escaped his lips. It rose up until it blinded him, but even when the darkness folded in around him, the pain did not stop.

"Tony."

Tony's eyes snapped open and it took him a moment to realise where he was. He took a deep, but quiet breath as he tried to force the memory out of his mind. He stumbled to his feet. He remembered having slunk down just for a moment, his legs had been killing him even though he'd barely been walking a few minutes, then, he must have fallen asleep. Even now he felt drained, exhausted. He definitely must have fallen asleep.

"Hey Coulson, what can I do you for." He said cheerily.

Tony's light and happy demeanour did not fool Phil for a second. For start he'd just found the man asleep on the floor, propped against the wall, that was never a good sign. Neither was the way his head was moving restlessly and the sheen of sweat that covered his forehead. Phil knew what a nightmare looked like, he just wondered which one of the horror's Tony was reliving.

"Just letting you know our eta is 0600."

"Perfect." Tony said, and it was, that was when Steve was out for his run. Two hours every morning like clockwork. Hopefully that would give him the time he needed, without the need for un-wanted confrontations.

"Can we land on your roof? It's a big bird and most buildings won't take the weight, but you being you…"

"Yes it will take the weight, I had the whole building reinforced after…" Tony's heart rate quickened, he thought the words but couldn't quite say them. Coulson looked on in concern as Tony's breathing got more and more shallow.

"I thought so, that's ideal." Coulson's words seemed to snap Tony out of it and he straightened up, shaking himself off. "Tony, Are you sure you are alright?"

"Yeah, great."

Coulson looked the man up and down. He was exhausted and trying hard to hide it. There was something behind his eyes that was screaming out for help but his body refused to show it. What struck him the most was how much weight he'd lost. He'd nearly say he looked good, but he couldn't, it wasn't Tony. He was lean, very lean, leaner than Ward… too lean. His usually strong and bulky arms looked remarkably reduced, like he'd been trying to morph into a long distance runner.

"Stark I really mean it, will you please just get checked out we have about an hour before we land and quite frankly I'm worried."

"Phil, you don't need to worry about me."

"I think I do, because you don't seem to worry about yourself all too much." Tony sighed in response. "Look Tony, I don't want to pry, but I mean, when was the last time you had a decent meal? How much time are you spending locked up in your lab? Tony chuckled. "I'm eating just fine Coulson."

"Why do I find that hard to believe? You must have lost 15 pounds since I last saw you."

"Yeah, well that's about right."

"Are you going to explain?"

Tony sighed again. He was getting far too used to spilling his guts. "Turns out this CAEB thing kind of sucks the life out of you. Before I went to Asgard I must have lost 30lbs, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Then after 4 months in some dungeon and you get the picture. But it's all fine now, I'm getting on top of it."

"I think I'd like to hear the rest of this story sometime." Coulson said with a serious smile.

"Yeah well, pop round next time your done playing dead and we'll talk."

Coulson smirked. "Well, if that offer is serious I just might."

"I'm serious."

….…..

As soon as Tony was back in the tower he stuck to the stairwell. There were two superspies in the tower after all, they'd probably notice if the private elevators started moving with all of the Avengers accounted for. He didn't want to see any of them right now. Not even Bruce.

He just wanted Pepper and that's straight where he headed. He approached the office cautiously. He imagined Pepper would have distanced herself from the others after what happened but the last thing he wanted to do was walk into that office if there was someone else in there.

He stood a listened for a while, everything sounded silent, the whole floor was quiet, but it was early. Then he realised he was trying to hear inside a soundproof room.

Tony took a deep breath and slipped through the door and there she was. The first thing he saw was her beautiful fiery hair, glowing brightly in the early morning sun that streamed in through the window behind her. With her head buried in papers and the near silent way he'd entered the room, it took a moment for her to notice him.

"Tony!" She gasped quietly, her eyes brimmed with tears of joy as she looked up to see his unmistakable outline. She stood up from the desk and ran towards him, heels and all. She stopped a few feet away from him.

"Tony, what did they do to you?" She gently stroked the line of jaw where the bruising was staring to show and the blood had dried and congealed into the stubble on his skin. He swore internally, he'd been avoiding getting help on the plane and now he'd forgotten to get himself cleaned up. The horror and worry on Pepper's face made his own insides churn, he couldn't stand to see her upset.

"I'm so sorry Tony, I... I don't know why I even reacted like that, I trust you with my life…"

"Pepper…"

"But Tony I don't want you to think it's your fault, I know you would never hurt me on purpose but if I hadn't over-reacted Steve wouldn't have told Fury and everything would be ok and…

"Pepper, it's ok, it's not your fault. _I'm_ scared of me it's no surprise the rest of you are."

"But Steve shouldn't have…"

"I don't blame any of them Pepper…"

"What? You don't blame them?"

"No, because it's not Steve's fault, it's not anyone's fault. I asked too much of them to keep a secret like that. There's no way round how dangerous I am, and yes Steve went behind my back when I trusted him but... It was for the right reasons."

"How can you say that Tony? The right reasons… He broke your trust, anything could have happened to you and don't you dare start blaming yourself for all of this!" Pepper's voice had started off softly but was now raised to a full shout.

"Pepper, please. I don't want to talk about this and I really can't deal with arguing with you right now, I just need…"

He pulled her into a hug which stopped her in her tracks. It had only been a couple of days, but it had felt like a lifetime ago she was in his arms. He rested his head on her shoulder and breathed in the comforting, familiar scent of her shampoo. But he couldn't calm his racing mind. He needed to get to work.

"I'm sorry." Pepper breathed, she was now very concerned about what had happened over the past two days. "Tony are you ok?"

"Pepper, honestly it's fine, I'll tell you everything I promise. I know you're desperate to know but I just need to sort a few things out first, get my head straight."

"Take all the time you need." Pepper took hold of Tony's shoulders, pushing him away and planting a kiss on his forehead. "Oh Tony, why does these things keep happening to you?"

"I don't know Pep. But it's kind of getting old."

"I'll agree with you on that."

"Is Jarvis still having a hissy fit?"

"Yes, yes he is. I never realised how much I relied on him until he just shut down. Nothing in the penthouse is working, the elevator is on manual operation, which means it doesn't work at all seeing as you didn't think to put buttons in it."

"Well it doesn't need buttons if you can just tell it where to go… but maybe I'll install them as a backup in future… I'll get onto that. Guessing that means everyone is using the stairs."

"Yes, if you're in the penthouse you have to walk down 15 flights of stairs to get to the standard elevator system and do you know how hard that is in heels?"

"No, but you always make it look effortless." Tony kissed her on the cheek as he turned to leave. "I'll give you a buzz when it's back up and running."

….…..

Tony stood against the wall of the elevator and put his head in his hands. It must have taken nearly two hours to get through all the security he'd set up, and some of the questions… he must have been drunk when he'd set up that system, well he'd definitely been drunk, he always was back then. Which is why it was fitting that he was just a bit drunk now.

Once he'd done that he'd set to work with the thing that had been eating away at him since he'd woken up on that infernal plane. The neural inhibitor. The whole point of it was that it should be a way to put him down should this CAEB get its control back and if that was the case, it couldn't be activated by his own fingerprint. If he went rogue there was no way that he should be able to have control. So now it came down to who he could trust. Pepper and Rhodey, yes. Bruce had never done anything but been there for him and if anyone understood his situation it was him. But after everything that had happened, he didn't know if he could trust any of his new _friends_.

He had to stop being paranoid, this was important. He could trust Bruce. So those three would have access, they would be able to give him back his powers, give him some of them, none of them or whatever they wanted. But he didn't think that any of them would have the guts to pull the kill switch, not until it was too late. He needed someone who would make that call. And there was one person that had already proved that they could do that, on two occasions. The same person who'd made the call to close the portal even though Tony was still on the other side, the same person who'd called Fury. Steve could make that call. He was the only one that would make that call.

So Tony had just handed the control of his life over to four people. In one way he felt sick, in another he felt like a weight had been lifted. It wasn't in his hands anymore, he had no control, which he'd proved he hadn't had from the beginning in any case.

Now he had to get out of here and fast. His private plane was landing any second. A whole army of people were ready to load the stuff he needed and then 6 hours later he'd be in Malibu. On the other side of the country from all his problems. He'd have made it the other side of the world if he could, but that wasn't practical right now. Something was coming. He hadn't told anyone about the nightmares, and they might well just be that… nightmares. But this time it felt different. He was starting to think that the battle of New York was just the beginning. And it was going to get a whole lot worse.

"Tony." Tony had been so absorbed in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed the lift pull up to the communal floor nor the doors glide open. He also hadn't noticed how he'd allowed himself to slide to the floor and curl up into a ball. He straightened up as soon as he felt concerned eyes on him.

"You're back then." Bruce said quietly.

"Yep."

There was an awkward silence as neither party knew what to say. Bruce could see that Tony was really not in a responsive mood, but he wanted to be there for him. Tell him how awful, how guilty he felt that he'd allowed it to happen… Tony's face was a mess, but other than that he looked fine. Exhausted, but fine. That was a relief at least. He moved into the elevator and sat beside his friend as the doors slid closed.

Bruce put all his questions aside and just focused on the one which was taking up the most of his mind. "Are you ok, Tony?"

"It's over, Bruce."

"What is?" Bruce turned his head to Tony, who was looking up at the ceiling.

"All of it… The CAEB, this little team we had, all of it."

"Tony, what is going on?"

"I'm done Bruce. I quit. You guys can have the tower, but I'm moving out. I can't say here."

"You put on the neural inhibitor then?" Bruce said as he caught sight of it and the dark purple stain on the back of his neck.

"More like I had it put on for me."

"Fury?"

"It's a long story Bruce."

"Yeah, well, I've got time."

"Can we not go there right now?"

"If that's the way you want it Tony then I'm not going to push, but is there anything I can do to persuade you to stay?"

"No Bruce, I can't look him in the eye knowing…"

"I get it Tony, I really do but I don't want to lose you and I don't want you to lose yourself either."

"I'll be fine." Tony said curtly.

"Tony…" Bruce sighed, there was no point going into this right now so he changed his tact. "Where are you going?"

"Malibu, I've got my place there and it's quiet."

"Well then, if it's ok I'm coming with you."

"Bruce, do you really want to do that? You lot are still happy here, it's just me that's the problem."

"Tony, you might have only been gone two days but a hell of a lot has happened since then. Steve dobbing you in, has split us down the middle. We can't even talk to each other without having a full on shouting match. We're not exactly a team anymore and I can't look half of them in the eye either."

"Well, you guys can just forget about that now and move on without me."

"No Tony, we can't. Too much has happened. And even if everything _was_ still all fine and dandy, as much as I like the others, Tony, you are the only one of them that I'd call a friend. And I don't want to you to be on your own. Not now, not after what you've been through… and certainly not with what is to come… that inhibitor it wasn't ready…"

"I know.

"So you know what's coming next." Tony nodded. "And you can't seriously tell me you want to go through that alone, no matter how much you want to keep it private.."

Tony contemplated for a moment and sighed deeply. "Ok Bruce." He conceded, but realising how reluctant he sounded and how grateful he was for Bruce's offer he added… "I'd love to have you, but give me a few days ok, I know you think it's a bad idea but… I really just need to be on my own for a while."

"Ok, fine, but promise me you won't do anything stupid until I get there."

"Fine. I'll try."

"When do you leave?"

"About an hour, just once everything's sorted."

"I'm guessing you want me to tell the others, so what should I say?"

"I don't see why it matters."

"Tony…"

"Bruce, I quit, I'm not an avenger anymore… I'm not even sure I want to be Iron Man anymore!" Tony said, his voice was raised but his entire body screamed his dejection.

"Tony you can't…" Bruce put his face in his hand. God this was frustrating. But now was not the time to argue with him, he needed someone on his side right now. "Look, Tony, I get what you're feeling just… don't decide anything right now, ok?"

"Thanks for your concern Bruce, but I'm not going to change my mind."

"Ok." Bruce stood up slowly and offered Tony a hand, which he took. "I'll see you in Malibu then."

"Deal." Tony patted his friend thankfully on the back.

Tony followed Bruce out of the lift without thinking. He'd been heading up to see Pepper, to tell her what he was doing. It was a good plan, he thought. She'd want to come with him of course … and he'd invite her, but with a company to run she wouldn't be able to leave New York. And that was perfect, he loved her and wanted to be with her every second of the waking day, but he couldn't let her see him through what was going to come… it would kill her.

He took a couple of steps into the room before he realised that this wasn't where he was supposed to be. He was on the communal floor, it was 7:50am. If the others weren't about they soon would be.

"Tony!" Clint exclaimed as he walked round the corner. Tony looked up, too late to do a runner now. As Tony turned his head Clint saw the stain of purple and black across his face. Despite having cleaned up the blood and had a shave, the bruising was well and truly starting to flower and he looked a mess. "Jesus, what happened?"

"What happened to who?" Natasha asked, breaking off from her chat with Steve who just returned from his run. The pair rounded the corner and stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Stark standing there.

"Tony… I… I'm…" Steve was startled. He wanted to say so much, but the guilt and shock that was eating at his insides stopped him from forming his words.

"What Steve? You're sorry?"

"Tony I can't tell you how sorry I am. I never thought they'd hurt you…" Steve hadn't expected Tony to be receptive, but even so it bit at him to hear Tony's angry voice directed at him. He was a man hurting. And that was all Steve's fault.

"Save it Steve, I don't really care. And seriously… It's SHIELD it's their job to hurt people!"

"Tony, please I know you're upset…

"Upset? You are kidding right? I thought I could trust you Steve, I thought I could trust all of you, but it turns out that's my bad."

"Tony, you can trust the others and I know I made a mistake but you can trust me."

"I can't trust any one of you, I never could. And if you're calling what you did a mistake Steve, are you admitting that what you did was wrong?"

"Well in a way… No, you know as well as I do that something had to be done but I shouldn't have…"

Tony scoffed. Of course Steve would never really admit it, he was far too perfect to make the wrong decision. "You didn't make a mistake Steve… not if you considered me the enemy anyhow…"

"What?" Steve was really confused.

"But I considered you a friend and that clearly wasn't reciprocated."

"Tony that's not true… I…"

"Did you think at all Steve, before you made that call? Did you even consider that I, Tony Goddam Stark, might be working on a way to fix this, might have been almost there until you forced me into using something that wasn't finished and now I'm going to have to live with the consequences? Didn't you trust me even that much to talk to me before you went and threw me too the wolves?"

"So great, you found a way to solve the problem, really I'm happy for you, but how was I supposed to know that? Why am I only hearing that now huh? How am I supposed to second guess you when you never tell us the full story? How can we trust you when you always lie to our faces?" Steve finally cracked and the others were taken aback, never having heard Steve raise his voice quite like that before. The room went eerily silent as the harsh words sunk in. Tony just stood there, pulling himself up tall and nodding slowly.

Steve slowly realised what he'd said, or more accurately yelled across the room. "Oh God… Tony! I didn't mean it." Steve's voice was full of pain but Tony just ignored it.

"But that's the thing Steve, you did mean it. We all know I was never right for this team, hell I was never even a real Avenger in the first place, just a consultant called to arms."

"A consultant…

"But you don't need to worry about the liability I pose anymore, or the CAEB. I was going to get Bruce to tell you this, but… I no longer have anything to do with any of you. I quit the avengers, I quit SHIELD and The CAEB has been dealt with. Don't worry I'm not kicking you out, you can have this whole damn building, call it a parting gift. Stark enterprises is moving to a new facility and you won't be seeing me again."

"Stark…" Natasha called to Tony's retreating figure, but she was met by a dismissive wave of his hand and the closing of the elevator doors.

….…..

As the elevator door's slid closed the room was left in a state of shock and dismay. Steve had expected Tony to be angry, but for him to quit, for him to sever all ties with them… that was far beyond what he could have predicted. He'd always seen Tony as confident, most of the time too confident for his own good but now, having seen how much it had taken for him to start to trust the team, to trust Steve, and how little it had taken for it to crumble to pieces, he was finally starting to realise how wrong he'd got Tony Stark. But now it was all too late. Because if there was one thing that Steve knew for certain was that his relationship with Tony had always been fragile and even if somehow he could make his peace with the others, that good thing they had been building was over for the pair of them. His friendship with Tony was over.

Natasha couldn't say she'd seen it playing out quite like that. Tony was a hell of a lot more fragile than she thought… or was he? If there was one thing that stood out was how Tony knew it was Steve, but was blaming all of them. Well, apart from Bruce. Tony was fair, yet he hadn't asked for the full story, he'd just attacked. Either that meant he'd been told the full story and had changed it to fuel his own anger, or he hadn't been told the correct details. Tony was too intelligent to let anger cloud him, and too cautious to be so easily fooled. There was something about the way Tony spoke, it was like he was trying to make himself angry at them, trying to pretend that he was placing all the blame on them. Yet he'd said it himself before he faltered, 'you didn't make a mistake Steve', he didn't really blame them… but he couldn't trust them either. He was cutting them off well and truly, protecting himself, correcting his own mistake, of letting them in.

Clint hadn't said a word. He felt awful that this had happened, but he knew he had tried to stop it. May he should have done better… but even so this wasn't on him. So when Tony attacked them all his words bit Clint hard and the sting hadn't left. He hated seeing his friend like this… he loved Tony like a brother, he couldn't say he hadn't been scared by this CAEB shit, that he hadn't doubted what they were doing, but selling out a friend, a brother that was never on. And Steve… he couldn't even admit that what he'd done was wrong. He couldn't stand by and watch this happen again.

"Well nicely handled Steve. Nicely handled. Are you all just going to stand there and let him leave?" Clint yelled at the others in the room.

"It's what he wants." Steve said dejectedly.

"Is it, is it really… Or is it want you want Steve? It's what you've always wanted isn't it? Tony was never part of this team in your eyes, you've had it in for him since day one. The moment you met him, you thought you knew him and you never gave him a chance, even after he's risked his ass for us so many times, you still hate him!"

"Clint, take it easy!"

"Why Tash? You can't seriously be ok with what has happened?"

"No it's regrettable…"

"Regrettable… OMG you agree with Steve!"

"Steve made a tough call, and with the information we had at the time it was the right one."

"And what about trusting Tony?"

"Clint no one feels worse about this than I do." Steve barked.

"I think Tony might." Clint snorted

"Clint, you're not being objective, you're being emotional." Natasha sighed

"Don't you start that emotion shit with me Natasha…"

"Clint you know as well as me that the situation was way, way out of hand. Something had to be done, it should have never got this far. If I'd been objective in the first place it wouldn't have and trust is a luxury that we can't…

"…That spies can't have Natasha… spies! Tony isn't part of that world he's family!" Clint looked around to silence. Steve was just staring at the floor, Natasha had her best indifferent expression. Clint couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Bruce? Aren't you at least going to try?"

"I have Clint, and… I don't think he's going to change his mind."

"Well great, thank you!" Clint shouted. "And I mean that Bruce, thank you, because the two of you certainly couldn't give a shit!"

"What would you have had me do Clint? Please, tell me. I hate how this has turned out but it was the only option." Steve reasoned, but Clint was well beyond that.

"No Steve, the only option was to talk this through, like you insisted we do this entire time! Tony trusted us and we went behind his back… No actually, YOU went behind his back and I had nothing to do with it!"

"Clint we'd tried the talking and it wasn't getting us any further forward." Steve replied.

"And do you seriously think Tony would have just played along if we'd suggested bringing Fury in on this?" Natasha said plainly.

"You know what Tash, I actually think he would have. He's not been comfortable with anything we've suggested so far and he's done exactly that… Played along. You are forgetting that he is not the jerk you made him out to be in your stupid report."

"Oh so we're going to go back to that report now are we, just because I made a misjudgement for the first time."

"No Tash, don't twist this back on me. He said he'd found a way to fix it, if we'd have talked to him we'd have realised that this was nearly over and we didn't need to dob him in to Fury."

"Clint we can't keep waiting around for Tony to tell us vital information. It's not up to him to decide what we know. We took the only course of action we could under the circumstances."

"The course of action Steve took… not we… Not Bruce, not me, certainly not Tony and even though your defending him Tash I know you didn't either. No one had any part in this decision and what sort of team is that? Hey Steve?"

"If I'd discussed it, it would have been too…"

"Save your bullshit Steve… You're so high and mighty with all your all your 'let's work as a team' shit, you are the first to point out anyone's faults, especially Tony's yet you are the one who makes the decisions and this time you didn't consult a single person. You are such a hypocrite. And Tasha, honestly, I know you don't like Stark but I expected something more from you, some judgement perhaps."

"Clint, just go cool off and think this through." Natasha was getting a bit sick of this now.

"No Tash I'm not going to suddenly come round to your point of view."

"This argument is getting us nowhere Clint, let's just talk later when we've all calmed down." Steve tried to add a rational voice but it only made things worse.

"And here you go again. Captain America. Or should I call you Captain perfect!"

"Clint, seriously." Natasha was borderline exasperated now.

"Screw the pair of you! If Tony's gone so am I." Clint stormed out of the room and a door could be heard slamming hard as footsteps retreated into the distance.

Steve didn't hang around either. And then there were two.

"Bruce, you should go after him." Natasha sighed

"Who Tony? He needs to be on his own Natasha. Whose side are you on, because I'm having trouble figuring it out?" Bruce sat in a chair, reading the newspaper he'd picked up while the argument had transpired.

"I'm not on any side Bruce…"

"Well… you're defending Steve, but now you pretend like you care about Tony."

"Bruce, I'm not playing games… I can just see all sides of this. Steve made a choice, and under the circumstances I really can't blame him for making it. Maybe it wasn't the perfect choice, but Steve wouldn't have made it unless he thought it was the only way and he will never, ever forgive himself for this. I'm not saying that this is fair for Tony, it obviously couldn't have ended much worse, but Tony has you and Pepper and Rhodey and even Clint on his side, right now _everyone_ hates Steve."

"Everyone apart from you it would seem." The way Bruce wasn't looking up from the newspaper when he spoke was strangely unnerving to Natasha. She was desperately trying not to seem like the bad guy here. Strangely she hadn't really cared what Clint thought of her, but she did care what Bruce thought.

"I care for all of you, Bruce. And even though it was Tony who got hurt and it's easy to see Steve as s putting himself through hell too and he needs a friend. And right now I'm the only one who fits the bill."

Bruce continued to read the rest of his page. The silence was killing Natasha, in fact it was really grating at her already raw nerves. Why was he leaving her hanging? She took a breath, it was probably just a coping mechanism, a way to stay calm. There had been a lot of hurt flung around the room, she was happy to see there wasn't even a fleck of green in Bruce's eyes.

Bruce took a measured breath and put down the paper having finished his page. "I can understand that, now you have explained it Natasha. This is a very difficult situation, for everyone. Your are not the only one who can see Steve's side in this…"

"Well Clint certainly doesn't."

"I think he does Natasha. But that's not his problem. And its not mine either."

"Then what?"

"It's not the choice Steve made… it's the way he's acting about it. He's so certain he did the right thing. He has an answer for everything. He won't even consider the fact that there might have been another way. You said yourself just then that Steve's choice wasn't the best. But neither you nor he said that just then, and neither of you showed a shred of remorse for the fact that Stark has up and quit as an avenger. We had something great and well, I'm pretty certain there is no getting that back now."

"Right. I can see that side as well."

"None of us needs reason right now. If we want to patch this up we all need to say out bit, not be told why were wrong, we just need to understand each other. So you need to talk to Clint."

"I will. But you need to go after Tony, now."

"Natasha, he really does need to be left alone."

"Not this time, Bruce. There's something more to this than what we're seeing."

"You're still trying to read Tony, even after you keep getting him wrong."

"How did you…?" Natasha had never told anyone about her doubts on how she was reading Stark, and she sure has hell hadn't let down her guard enough to show it to an untrained eye.

"You're not the only one in here who has enough trust issues to monitor every move of every person you ever meet."

"Even so… I'm pretty sure this time. You can't let him shut the world out."

"I am trying Tash, and I have something in place."

"That may be the case, but knowing Tony don't you think whatever you might have been planning might have just gone out the window after that shouting match."

Shit. Natasha was right. What if Tony had just decided to bolt and go this whole thing alone?

"I better go find him."

"You go do that."

….…..

"Have I missed him?" Bruce burst into Pepper's office, it made sense after all. If Tony was going to do a runner, there was no way he was leaving without saying goodbye to her.

"I haven't seen him."

"Right, call me if you do." He shouted as he turned to leave the room as hastily as he entered it.

"Bruce, what is it, what's happened."

"It's ok. I'll sort it." He called back.

"Bruce?" Pepper spoke forcefully as she stood up sharply from her desk.

"Trust me Pepper." He said as he flew out the door.

"Jarvis, where is he?"

"You'll have to be more specific Dr. Banner." Answered the ever present voice of calm.

"Cut the shit Jarvis."

"Sir has asked me not to reveal his location." Bruce growled, but took a few deep breaths to keep himself in control. Think, Bruce… Jarvis won't tell you where he is but…

"Well take me to him then."

"Of course Dr. Banner." God love that AI.

….…..

"Tony."

"Bruce." Tony couldn't have sounded less enthusiastic if he tried.

"We've got to talk."

"I don't have to do shit."

"Tony please don't be like that with me, I'm trying to help."

"Oh, like Steve was just trying to help?" Tony put his head in his hand and huffed at the stupid sentence that just slipped out of his mouth. "I'm sorry that was uncalled for."

"Thank you. Now are we going to be civilised or are you going to let your anger keep talking on your behalf."

"Look Bruce, I'm sorry, I'm just… I'm fucked up right now, but still that's no excuse, you've been nothing but kind to me and I'm… just an ass."

"No Tony you're not an ass, well… not all the time anyway. What I'm trying to say is you're human, and this whole thing sucks so I don't blame you for lashing out, hell knows I would. I'm going to give you your space like you asked, but I just need to know that someone is going to be checking on you. Pepper, Rhodey, hell even your next door neighbour will do."

"Pepper's running the company."

"Well Rhodey?"

"He's applying for leave as we speak."

"How long will that take?"

"I don't know, and whether he gets it or not depends on how much he pissed off his superior officer when he dropped everything and flew half way across the world to check on me."

"Who will be there if he can't get leave?"

"He'll get it… Rhodey'll sort it out."

"Can I have his phone number?"

"Why?" Tony didn't know why he was suspicious of that request, but he was still in a mood for a fight after the arguments downstairs.

"Because I might need to talk to him Tony."

"Yeah, fine. Jarvis will give it to you." Stark huffed and continued shoving things in a bag

"Ok. One more thing. You told the others a fair bit back there, but they're going to have questions and seeing as I'm stuck here until you're ready for me in Malibu I'm going to have to answer them.. Now I don't want to say anything you don't want me to, so how much do you want me to tell them."

"I don't want you to lie for me Bruce."

"I'm offering and it's not an offer I would make unless I meant it."

"Thank you." Tony didn't deserve a friend like this and he was trying hard not to push him away despite his shattered trust. "Tell them about the inhibitor what it is, what it does. Don't tell them about the consequences of it not being finished."

"Fine. Speaking of those consequences when's the first one due?"

"Jarvis is running the calculations but it's complicated."

"Tony, I know that you know when." Bruce was trying not to get frustrated with his friends evasiveness.

"Bruce… I don't want you to be there. Not for the first one."

"Tony you can't go through that alone."

"I won't be alone."

"Jarvis doesn't count."

"No I mean… Rhodey will be there, if he can get leave… and that doesn't mean I don't trust you Bruce it's just…"

"You don't have to explain Tony, I'm not upset. I understand."

"No, I want to explain. You deserve a reason. Of all the shit that's happened in my life most of it I've dealt with alone, Rhodey is the only one who's seen me at my lowest and if I could change that I would… I don't like people knowing about my problems Bruce, especially those close to me, because I don't want them to have to deal my shit. What I'm saying is I don't know if I'm ready for anyone else to see me like that, not just yet." Tony was very matter of fact, it was clear by the way his shoulders were held, tense and close to his ears, that he was still very much on edge.

Bruce just nodded. He didn't need to say anything. "How bad is this going to be?" He asked.

"I'm not sure yet, but it's not going to be pretty and it's not going to get better."

Bruce frowned. "Does that mean it's going to get worse?"

"The algorithm is complicated, it will get more accurate the more events it has to draw data from, but yes, the initial reading would suggest it's going to slowly get worse."

"Is there any way round it? Any way to improve the inhibitor?"

"I could make it perfect. I've finished the calculations and found the optimum settings. Even synthesised a new element. But none of these improvements can be implemented without taking it out and replacing it."

"And that we can't risk." Bruce banged his fist against the wall hard and sucked in a deep breath to calm himself. Taking out the inhibitor was not an option, partly because letting the CAEB loose again was something Tony wouldn't allow, but mainly because God knows what would happen to Tony if they did. Releasing something that had such a strong hold over the CAEB's brainstem so suddenly could kill them both as easily as the kill switch. There had to be a way around this. He couldn't believe this was happening to Tony again.

"Bruce, it's ok. I'll learn to live with this just like I did with the reactor."

"This is a little different Tony. You will be resigning yourself to a life of pain that only going to get worse. When these things happen, it will completely disrupt your life. You'll be exhausted the rest of the day and we don't know how long it will be before they get so bad that…"

"Say it."

"Before it kills you, Tony."

"It's not so different Bruce. The ARC reactor isn't painless you know." Tony waited to see if Bruce was going to say something, but he didn't. His eyes just told him to keep going and for the first time, he did without any further pressure. "It aches all the time. Sometimes it's just like heartburn, most of the time it's like a broken rib, but some days, some days it's so bad I can't do anything. I just go down to the lab, curl up on the sofa and wait for it to go away."

"I never realised it's so debilitating."

"It's not that often. Usually if I've used the suit, or leant on it or been hit in the chest… but what I'm saying is that it disrupts my life already, and I can't predict how much it's going to hurt when I wake up on a morning, and sometimes I have to just cancel things at a moment's notice. It drives Pepper and Rhodey crazy. The difference is I can predict this, it's going to be confined to a short period of time and the rest of the time it will be fine. I wish the ARC would do that, I've forgotten what it's like to not be in pain all the time."

"You never told them why?"

"Hmmm?"

"Pepper and Rhodey. You never told them why you randomly cancel on them."

"Of course not. Why worry them when I can put it down to just being Tony Stark? Besides not every time I cancel is due to the arc, sometimes I really can just not be bothered."

"So you admit it then. It's just an act half the time?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that. I've been doing it for so long…"

"… that you don't what's you and what's not anymore."

"You do realise that this thing is probably going to kill you, unless we find a way to change the inhibitor. It will get worse and worse until your body can't take it anymore. I don't want to see that happen."

"I know Bruce. And if it _is_ going to kill me I want to get things straight. You are one of few people who I consider a friend and I need you to know how much it means to me… everything you have done to help me, especially when I've been difficult… I need you to know that nothing that's happened is your fault, there is nothing you could have done better. I've been able to rely on you through all of this. I know you want to fix this, and please know that I've not given up, not by a long shot… but if this doesn't go my way… it's ok."

"Tony…" Bruce's voice was choked.

"I've been 'dying' before and I made a mess of it. This time I'm going to do it right."

"What do you mean?"

"You are right, I don't know who I am anymore. I have been wearing this mask for nearly 20 years and until very recently I never thought I would find out what I really looked like if I took it off. I didn't think I could take it off and maybe it is welded on, maybe too much has happened but regardless I think I'm ready to face stuff this time and maybe in the process find the person I've been hiding from."

There was a mellow silence in the room. Bruce didn't speak, he could see Tony still had more to say.

"That's all I want to do now, Bruce. Find who I am, find out what's left of who I was. That's the only thing I have left to achieve."

"Tony you have so much left to give…"

"Maybe, maybe not. The truth is I never really wanted to be a genius. Never wanted to run a company, follow in Dad's footsteps. I just wanted to be normal… But I also wanted to make him proud which is why I didn't get my childhood, maybe I can have that now."

Tony smiled contemplatively. Bruce didn't really know what to say… He had wanted to see beneath the layers of Tony Stark for a long while and having seen what he had the other night, having learnt what he had about Tony's past, he'd never dreamed that someone like Tony would ever be 'ready' to come back from something like that. He couldn't believe it, but he was so happy to hear it. And it seemed sincere.

"Tony… I never thanked you for letting me in that night before SHIELD came. Rhodey filled me in on the rest when you were asleep… I can't even begin to understand… there are no words to say how much it means to me that you trusted me with that and if or when you are ready to work through that, or anything else in your past… or future, I'll be there and I want to help."

Both men had tears in their eyes and the room was silent for a moment.

"Are we gay?" Tony said bluntly.

"Probably." Bruce chuckled. Typical Tony to complete change the atmosphere with a single sentence. Bruce rubbed his face and tried to remember what had sparked the conversation that had lead them to this point.

"But you still haven't told me when this first... 'Event' is going to happen and what are we going to call them?" Bruce frowned

"I don't know, but we do need a name. I reckon at the start they will be once every few weeks, if I'm lucky it'll be less than once a month… but the first one, it's not far away, maybe 9 days." Tony deliberated.

"Ok, so I'll give you two weeks, but you know to call me if anything changes."

"Sure thing Brucie. See you in Malibu!" Tony slung the bag he'd been packing over his shoulder and marched off towards the lift.

..….…..

 **Ok so that's me getting back into the swing of things. I have started the next chapter and know where I'm going with it… so hopefully another update in a week or so. But as usual no promises. It's not long till I start winding up for the grand finale and I want to get that right so keep an eye out for audience questions in the next few chapters which will help to shape this story's conclusion**


	22. Chapter 22- Intervention

**Updated as well, my proof reading was so poor I'd left a note to self in there and forgotten to wrote a bit of it. woops :/ all fixed now though.**

 **...**

 **Well I'm sorry guys, this was going to be a Christmas update, which then turned into a New year's update… and well here you are! But as this turned into a 20K word chapter I'm going to split it into three and hopefully give you some more regular updates.**

 **I really shouldn't have started writing this again! I have so much work to do over Christmas but from the first moment I started typing I've been hooked again.**

 **Onto the story and if you thought things couldn't get any worse for our favourite billionaire… Well, Sorry Tony.**

 **Chapter 22- Intervention**

"Clint, we need to talk." Bruce hovered at Clint's door, he was busy packing his things and his room looked like a bomb site with every draw and cupboards contents piled onto the bed.

"How many times have I heard that over the past few months?" Clint groaned. He was still in a foul mood.

"Clint just please stop for a minute." Clint stopped folding the t-shirt he had in his hand and tossed it his bag with the other crumpled clothes.

"You're not going to convince me to stay Bruce, and you're closer to Tony than any of us so I don't know why we're going to have the conversation I think we are about to."

"That's because this isn't the conversation you think it going to be."

"Then what?" Barton said, sitting himself on the bed and shuffling towards the centre.

"Tony is demanding space… he's buggered off to Malibu on the jet this morning. He's not coming back… but he is very serious about us staying here."

"But… you're not staying?"

Bruce sighed and leant his back into the door frame. "No, I'm going to Malibu, in two weeks, give him time to cool off first."

"Good." Clint nodded. "He shouldn't be alone."

"But, that still leaves me with two weeks..." Bruce said bluntly.

"So Barton please don't go just yet." Clint mimicked and lay down on the bed so he was staring at the ceiling.

"Well, you know, where were you going to go? You have free luxury accommodation right here."

"Oh, I have somewhere good to go. It's not luxury, but it's… let's just say it's a lot happier than this place right now." Clint folded his arms behind his head and sighed.

"So I can't convince you to be my back up until I hop over the west coast?"

"Fine Bruce, fine, but when you go, I go… and don't expect me to go anyway near Steve."

"No objections there."

Bruce was just turning to leave when Clint called his attention.

"Bruce… You're pissed with him too right? It's not just me?"

"Clint," Bruce took of his glasses and looked at his feet, "looking at Steve right now puts me the closest to seeing the other guy I have ever been, without actually losing control."

"Right, I thought so… it's just Natasha, her reaction, taking Steve's side, and acting like it's obvious that Steve did the right thing. Its making me question everything."

"If there's one thing I know about Ms. Romanov, it's that she is always holding something back."

"Maybe… I Dunno." Clint pulled his hand out from behind his head and waved it flippantly

"I better get back, I left some things running in the lab." Said Bruce, satisfied he'd laid at least some of the groundwork.

….

Bruce had been checking his calculations over and over for the last hour and he still couldn't find anything wrong. And for once this wasn't a bad thing. He opened his email and attached a file but paused before he pressed send, instead pulling out his phone and listening to the dial tone.

"Tony Stark."

"Tony, it's me?" Bruce said a little perplexed at the formal introduction. "You turned off caller ID or something?"

"No… ermmm someone has renamed all my contacts and I've decided not to make any assumptions, because they've been somewhat… creative."

"Who?"

"Clint I'm guessing, that's the last time I lend him my phone."

"And you've only just noticed this."

"Well I've been separated from my phone for a few days." Tony said and Bruce instantly regretted stirring the memory.

"Right." Bruce said solemnly and then he grew curious. "What did he change me to?"

"Ermmm…. I'm not saying." Tony said with conviction.

"OK…" That was interesting, he thought. He would find out one way or another. "Anyway. Tony, I was calling to say I might be on to a tentative something when it comes to fixing the inhibitor."

"Seriously?"

"Tony, unlike you Clint I'm not into wind ups, not with something like this."

Tony went very quiet. "That's… That's brilliant. I wasn't expecting… Well anything good anyway."

"I'll send you it over. It's no guarantee Tony…"

"No of course, but it's a start."

"Has Rhodey got leave yet?"

"He has to finish the week."

"So what are you doing with yourself?"

"I haven't even looked at fixing the inhibitor yet, just trying to get this algorithm perfected so I can actually get some viable predictions on when and what is going to happen to me in… 4 days and 14 hours according to the latest rubbish this thing is churning out."

"But that's accelerated, it should still be nearly a week. Rhodey won't be there…" Panic edged into Bruce's voice and that sent Tony into a gabble.

"Oh no, no, no… don't worry it was saying 17 days about an hour ago. Precision is not its thing at the moment. It's basing it on interactions of the CAEB energy signature and my brain waves so it seems to accelerate when I get…"

"What Tony?"

"When I get stressed out."

"Are you Ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine I'm just not getting anywhere. I mean I just don't get what the problem is. Other than drawing data from an actual 'event' I don't think I can improve it."

"Maybe it can't be solved purely theoretically Tony."

"Yeah that's what I thought. But even if it is, the predictions should be a lot more reliable… I mean. It's my Maths."

"How long have you spent on this?"

"It is slow progress, but I suppose since there was only so far I could get on the plane and I've only been in the lab for a few hours…"

"Actually Sir, you've been in the lab nearly 12 hours." Jarvis could be heard echoing in the background.

"Tony." Bruce said disappointedly.

"Honestly Bruce, I hadn't realised." Tony sounded uncharacteristically down. And it made Bruce really worried. It made sense, of course, but he just hadn't expected it, Tony was usually so private when it came to his emotions. Stark had so much hanging over him, so much uncertainty and very little to look forward to. And despite Bruce's best efforts he was alone right now.

"Tony, you sound exhausted. Please just go get some rest, then do something else for a while, something you enjoy."

"Bruce, I really want to keep busy."

"Well then, do something else while letting you head work on something less heavy, like figuring out what we are going to call these 'events'."

"I'll wait till Rhodey gets here for that. His terrible suggestions usually inspire my genius."

Bruce couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Ok, but please, at least consider having a break."

"I'm going upstairs now. I'm not going to get any further for now anyway." Tony waved his hand in the air and Jarvis turned off the light. "Bruce can I ask you to do something?"

"Anything Tony." Bruce was a little concerned by the sincerity in Tony's voice.

"I've not told anyone this." Tony started. "But I've been having nightmares." Bruce let Tony pause and breath. He didn't utter a word. "They're about New York, mainly about the wormhole, or that's how they started. But not long before Asgard they started getting worse, and ever since then I've got more and pieces, fragments…"

"They're not dreams, are they?" Bruce breathed.

"No." Tony whispered. "Something's coming Bruce. Something that is going to make the Chitauri look like toy soldiers. Before you ask I wasn't sure what they meant before, I wasn't sure until that night before SHIELD came. I didn't say anything. I mean, until then they were just dreams."

"What should we do, do you know how long we've got?"

"I don't think it's going to work like that. And I haven't had one of them since the inhibitor was put on."

"So, we're in the dark."

"Yes. But Bruce, the world is going to need the Avengers again soon. And from what you've told me, right now there is no Avengers."

"If you're asking me if I can fix the team, I've already started."

"Of course you have." Tony smiled to himself. "I'm sorry Bruce, it's a hell of a lot more vital you succeed now."

"I'll deal with it. It'll give me something to do over the next two weeks."

"Thank you."

"Tony, I'll be calling Jarvis tonight and you better not have gone back into that lab."

"Fine. Talk later."  
….

"Was that Tony? Natasha asked as Bruce hung up the phone. He'd not heard the little spider sneak up on him and he was slightly concerned about how much she'd heard of that conversation.

"You know it was."

"Why the hostility?"

"I'm sorry. Difficult conversation."

"So, Tony wants you to fix the team… Hard to do if Clint's gone."

"Turns out he's not going, not just yet anyway."

"You convinced him to stay?"

"Only as long as I do."

"You're going to Malibu?"

"Well, you know, even though everyone is on Tony's side, apart from you of course… I'm not getting at you Natasha…" Bruce added seeing the frown on Natasha's face develop. "What I meant is that no one is actually by his side and whether he likes it or not he's going to have someone there."

"You are annoyed with me."

"I understand what you are doing, but it doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Even if I can bring him round for you?"

"Natasha did you talk to Steve?"

"Not yet, still perfecting my speech, considering all the variables."

"He's not a mark Natasha. And if he finds out he's being played you are going to really hurt him."

"He is my friend Bruce, but I never fail on missions so if I prepare for it like a mission…"

"Fair enough."

"So, you bring Clint around, and I'll sort out Steve."

"Deal."

….  
"I expected you to be hiding in your room." Bruce said as he walked into the kitchen late in the evening.

"Well, Steve eats at 7pm sharp then goes to bed at 10pm. He won't be coming up here again before then."

"Fair enough." Bruce sat down and picked up a newspaper that he'd left lying on the counter.

"You're not here to read a newspaper are you Bruce."

"Not really."

"You really aren't good at being subtle."

"I'm not trying to be."

"I don't get why you are trying to get me and Steve back to being Buddy's. I mean… I don't see you talking to him."

"No, your right I haven't."

"You're angry with him. So am I."

"Of course you are Clint. But I'm not angry. Upset? Yes, but I can understand why he did what he did even if I don't agree. The hulk on the other hand isn't so understanding, its turns out he's rather fond of Tony… and rather mad with the guy who betrayed him. So, for the sake of New York I think it's best I don't see Steve for a while."

"Fair enough." Clint said indignantly.

"I get it Clint. Of course, I get it. Steve made a bad choice and Tony's paying for it."

"It's not even that. If I really force myself to… I _can_ understand why he made the decision. I never would have made it, but I can _understand_ it, in a way… kind of." Clint groaned in frustration. It's that he's so damn adamant that he did the right thing. I mean would it kill him to admit that he could have done things differently?"

"Exactly." Bruce nodded.

"But the thing that I don't get is Natasha… I mean, why is she on his side?"

"I don't think it's quite as simple as that Clint, maybe it's more a case of Steve needing someone on his side, I mean… everyone else is on Tony's."

"So, Natasha isn't really on Steve's side, why would she do that, I don't…"

"Why you don't ask her Clint… at the end of the day you two go way back, you can't tell me you've always agreed on everything. Talk to her. Work it out."

"I can see what you are doing Bruce."

"I know. But you're going to do it anyway, right?"

"Maybe."

Bruce sighed, putting down his newspaper. "Do you want to know the real reason why Tony left?"

"Go on..."

"Yes, he doesn't feel like he can trust Steve anymore, but he felt him and this CAEB was the reason we, the avengers, were falling apart. Now he's gone, he expects us to just all click back into place."

"Way too much has happened for that."

"Maybe… Maybe not. The fact is that the avengers will be needed again one day. With or without Tony stark we are going to have to be able to pull together when we are needed. I'm not saying we can get back to where we were, but we do have to move forward, for the sake of the planet."

"No pressure then."

"No pressure."

….

Rhodey rocked up to Malibu on Sunday evening. It should have been Friday, but his superior officer had not been happy with the way he had abandoned his duty. He was actually quite lucky to still have his job, so when they'd needed an extra man for the weekend, he felt he had to offer. Thankfully this would still give him 2 days with Tony before the 9-day deadline.

It was Tuesday afternoon and Rhodey had been in the lab with Tony for a few hours. In league with Bruce he was making sure Tony was resting and avoiding stress. Bruce had inspected Tony's algorithm and it was indeed, flawless as he had expected it to be, but it was taking instantaneous readings. It takes a relative idiot, thought Bruce, to find such an obvious flaw in the work of a genius. Taking an average over 6 hours of readings made the prediction much more stable, but it was evident that any strain on Tony's mind or body would accelerate the process.

"Oh yeah!" Tony exclaimed suddenly.

"What is it?" Rhodey asked. He'd been staring at the wall in thought for the last half hour while Tony was working on some maths that made his MIT Engineering degree feel like elementary school.

"We need an excuse for me to take the day when I need it, or at least half a day when these episodes are going to happen."

Well you'd need something you could put on the calendar…you certainly can't throw a Tony tantrum every time one of these happens."

"A Tony tantrum? That's what you've been calling them."

"Well it fits."

"I suppose it does really, and you're right, it should be something official, on my calendar then Pepper cannot argue and people won't suspect anything…"

"You're not telling her then."

"Rhodey I know what you're going to say."

"Tony if you don't want to tell her yet that's fine, but you are going to tell her."

"I will eventually."

"Soon. You're not going to let her find out like last time."

"What, like when they were arresting Justin Hammer."

"Yes, not like that."

"Fine, soon. I just want to know what I'm dealing with first and Bruce thinks he's been getting somewhere with this inhibitor right? So, there is no point in telling her until we know that there's no way out of this."

There was a moment of quiet while Rhodey tried to think of cover stories.

"How about you're seeing a psychiatrist.

Tony looked at Rhodey with disbelief

"You are joking, right?"

"Well, it would make sense, regular appointments and Pepper would be thrilled."

"Pepper would be suspicious and wouldn't believe me. Come on Rhodey I would NEVER see a shrink.

"Maybe you should."

"Go screw yourself." Tony said lightly.

"Ok, so not a shrink how about you're writing an autobiography and you're meeting a writer to help you?"

"Nope, she'll think I'm dying

"Yes, she probably will."

"Something business related?"

"She knows all the business-related things"

"New project?"

"Not calendar worthy."

"Hughhh, I feel like I'm giving all the ideas here." Rhodey groaned, spinning round slowly in the desk chair.

"You are giving all the ideas." Tony threw another virtual ball of paper across the room. "And they're all rubbish."

"Ok then, what have you got?" Rhodey retorted sitting up straight.

"I'd have had something by now if you'd shut up for 5 seconds." Tony flicked away his screens and turned to face Rhodey. "It has to be related to me moving here somehow. She knows I'm going there to get away but I could have chosen anywhere… Malibu for all the things it is, is still in America. It's not exactly the furthest away I could have got."

"So, what's around Malibu, I mean its LA, party central, hardly project territory."

"I've been approached by a number of colleges since I published my research paper. I could lead a joint project between the applied physics at Stanford and the Jet Propulsion lab at Caltech, I have contacts in both and I don't see why they'd say no."

"Actually, that sounds pretty bomb proof."

"Jarvis make it happen."

"Of course, sir."

There was a pause and Tony started tapping away again on the Stark pad.

"It's happening tomorrow right. The first one?"

"As far as I can tell."

"What's the latest projection?"

"J?"

"You have a meeting to discuss the project viability at Stanford University in 18 hours' time. It is expected to last less than 20 minutes."

"20 minutes!" Rhodey gawped at Tony. "I thought you said the first one was going to be short."

"J" Tony groaned.

"The substance of the meeting is predicted to last just over a minute."

"Skip the euphemisms with us Jarvis please, if there's no-one else around. It's confusing enough without all this nonsense."

"With Sir's permission."

"Yes J, if it's me Rhodey or Bruce stick to straight talk."

"Can you feel it coming?"

"No. I don't know if it's something that will happen by itself or if I will need to disengage the inhibitor to induce it."

"If it doesn't happen by itself why do you have to do it at all?"

"Because leave it long enough he pressure will build up, it will crush my brainstem and kill me."

"Fair enough." Rhodey had so many questions. He'd been trying to keep Tony's mind off what was coming as much as possible, keep his stress down extend the time and pray that Bruce or Tony came up with a miracle and he wouldn't have to go through it all. But in all his efforts he had realised that he had no idea what was going to happen tomorrow nor how to help his friend.

"Just for the record J, when will the real meeting with Stanford and JPL be?"

"Both parties replied to your proposal email almost immediately and are proposing first thing tomorrow morning. I have suggested Friday afternoon to give ample time for recovery."

"Sounds good J."

"Tony… I haven't said anything yet, but I have some questions."

"Shoot."

"What do I do? I mean, how do I know if something's gone wrong? Basically, all I know is that it's going to be tomorrow, last what… a minute and from what I've heard from Bruce it's not going to be nice."

"Ok… Right. You saw the first merge. I know you weren't there, but you saw the footage."

"Yeah."

"So, I don't remember much, but it hurt a lot. One of two things will happen. The CAEB's power in me will disengage the inhibitor, or I'll have to do it. Either way I will have to undergo a merge, before you get worried it will not be as bad as the first. The first time my anatomy and the CAEB's were completely incompatible, now, it's more like they are getting reacquainted after an argument. Then the inhibitor will re-engage, which is probably going to be worse at this stage."

"Ok… So, what do I do?"

"It probably won't happen the first time, but I might have a seizure, I've set up a room, I'll need you to strap me down if things get bad. As they get worse my heart my stop and eventually might need a bit of help restarting."

"What!"

"Rhodey this is well down the line. The merges will get progressively worse. The longer this inhibitor is on the more pressure will be put on my second brainstem. To fully recover I would need 24 hours off the inhibitor for every few weeks I was on. These short times off the inhibitor are the minimum that will keep me alive, unfortunately that means that unlike tomorrow the whole process will take about a minute, the longer I wear the inhibitor the longer it will have to be disengaged. And unfortunately, this will cause the merges and the reengagement to be more severe."

"But your heart will stop."

"Everything you need is in that room I've set up. Defibrillators and everything you could possibly need. The fact is for the first few I just want someone with me. You probably won't have to do anything. But unless we find a solution this will eventually get so bad it will kill me."

"So, they will get worse and more regular. Great. Just great."

"Rhodey."

"I'm sorry Tony this is just so unfair."

"I'll fix it Rhodey."

"How long have you got?"

"I can't tell Rhodey. It's in the months, maybe the years. It's too early to tell. But I will fix this"

"I know you will Tony. I know you will."

…

"Steve what are you doing."

"Trying to avoid everyone."

"Not like you to run away from your problems."

"Well everyone hates me and I can't say I blame them."

"That's not true Steve."

"Present company excepted."

"Bruce doesn't hate you either. He's not best pleased with you, but he doesn't hate you. Clint hates you. And the hulk hates you, but Bruce doesn't."

"You're making me feel so much better Natasha."

"I'm not here to make you feel better Steve."

"Then why are you here."

"To make you realise your being an idiot."

"I'm being an idiot."

"Yes, you are. You're beating yourself up over a decision you made and that you can't change.

"I regret my decision Natasha, but I don't see what else I could have done."

"Everyone else understands Steve, that's not their problem… And by them, I mean Clint."

"So, what's Clint's problem."

"He wants you to admit you were wrong."

"Haven't I done that already?"

"No, Steve, you may think you have but, all you've admitted nothing, only found a thousand ways of saying that you did the right thing but wish there had been another way."

"I thought you agreed with me Natasha."

"Someone has to make the hard calls Steve. Someone always has to take the decision that no one else wants to. And that person always ends up being you. That's why you lead us. But that isn't always going to turn out as well as it did in New York."

"So, what is it you want me to do Natasha."

"Think about it Steve. Talk to Clint… sort it out."

"And how do you suggest that I bring him round, admit that I was wrong, have a heart to heart?"

"Sounds like a start."

"It's never going to work Natasha."

"You mean you're not willing to try."

"I can't see much point to be honest."

"Well Steve, it's your choice. You can sit here and wallow in guilt or you can try and put things right."

"But things aren't going to be put right are they Natasha. Even if I can make it up with Clint, Tony isn't coming, back is he?"

"Tony Stark is as unpredictable as they come. But no, I don't think he's coming back this time. But that doesn't mean all is lost."

"I admire your optimism Natasha. But this time I think it is."

….

"Bruce…"

"I'm guessing it hasn't gone well then."

"He's just lost all hope."

"So, you don't think you can bring him round?"

"I'm not sure, but I think I have a much quicker way of solving this."

"But…"

"I'm not sure you'll like it… and they certainly won't."

"Well right Now Natasha I think anything's worth a shot."

…..

Rhodey had insisted that they turn in early. Tony hadn't objected, he was tired and he wanted to rest the longer he slept the less time he would have to think about what was to come. But as fate would have it Tony wasn't granted a peaceful night.

Tony woke up and his chest was burning. He was gasping for air, adrenaline coursing through his veins. He groaned in annoyance as he realised what a state he was in. His sweat drenched body trembled in shock as the grip of the dream unravelled. He'd had some pretty horrendous nightmares in his time, but that had been something else. He tossed off the crumpled sheets and sat on the edge of his bed, trying to catch his breath. This wasn't fair. As his breathless gasps dissolved into sobs he wrapped his arms across his chest and gently rocked himself into calmness. HE felt stupid, he always did. But at least no one was there to see it this time and even Jarvis had decided to leave him be.

"Jarvis lights." As the sweat dried on his bare skin the shakes of fear turned to shivers and he gently got to his feet. There was a deep churning feeling in the pit of his stomach and his mouth and throat ached with dryness. He sighed deeply as grabbed a zip up hoody and headed for the door.

He slouched into the kitchen and leant heavily on the sink and reached lazily for a glass. His head felt unusually fuzzy as his fingers fumbled for the tap. He wondered how long he'd actually slept.

"J what time is it." Tony groaned as the fuzziness started to grow into an ache that spread across his temples.

"3:04 am." Ok so he'd had a good 5 hours, so why did he feel hungover. Maybe he'd been more tired than he'd realised.

"Rhodey still asleep?"

"Yes Sir, would you like me to wake him."

"Nah, I'm fine."

Tony filled a glass clumsily, spilling it as he slammed it down hard into the table and started to rifle through the draws and tossing things onto the floor.

"Sir, the paracetamol is located in the cupboard to your left." Tony found said paracetamol and saluted the invisible entity in the ceiling. He sat down on a stool and swallowed two capsules with a mouthful of water that made a chill run down into his stomach. Even with the thick hoody on his shoulder he realised how cold he was. He just wanted to crawl back into the warmth of his bed so he finished the rest of his glass and got to his feet.

He had only taken a few steps before he realised something was wrong. The world wasn't as it should have been, it was… spinning a little. And his legs felt weak beneath him. This wasn't right. He saw the room drop a level, but he didn't feel his knees hit the floor. He didn't hear the glass shatter as his fingers caught it and knocked it from the table. The room seemed very bright but very far away.

"Jarvis?"

"Sir, I regret to inform you that your meeting seems to have moved forward."

"Shit." Tony scrambled to his feet and managed to maintain his balance. But not the contents of his stomach. As he wiped the foul-tasting bile from the corners of his mouth he slowly made his way towards the stairs. "How long J?"

"6 minutes Sir."

"Great Tony muttered." It would take him 5 minutes to make it down the stairs at this rate. He took it steady, holding tightly onto the railing and taking just one step at a time. He thought with all his experience of being drunk that something like this should be a lot easier, but this was like being drunk and high at the same time, or that's what he imagined it felt like anyhow. As he lowered another toe towards the marble, he missed it completely. As his body dropped and his foot hung in mid-air his hands failed to hold their grip. He tumbled forwards landing on his chest and sliding. His chin and ribs bounced over the sharp edges with quickening thuds. He managed to tuck in his neck and arms. The momentum threw him onto his back and he rolled out of control, until every inch of him felt the jolt of sharp, hard marble edges. Lying at the bottom he felt numb. He was grateful, but knew that the pain would come soon enough.

"Well, at least it was quicker than walking." He thought aloud and even though Jarvis didn't say anything he could feel the disapproval radiate from the ceiling.

Tony shuffled along the floor until his back was against the wall and he used the friction between his jacket and the wall panels and managed to get to his feet. Jarvis swung the door to the lab open and almost instantly the back wall started sliding out, revealing the secret 'meeting room' he'd been preparing for the last two weeks.

Dum-E, U and Butterfingers whizzed to the aid of their wobbly creator, buzzing worriedly and as usual being the exact opposite of helpful. "Guy's please let me walk."

Tony shuffled carefully into the room and grabbed onto the object in the centre of the room as his legs threatened to fail. He'd picked it carefully, to try and make it feel less like what it was. It was there of course to restrain him when things inevitably got rough but right now, it was soft, comfortable and inviting. It took the last of his strength to crawl into the soft leather of the reclined chair. That was when the pain took hold and his insides started to burn.

"Tony, it's ok, I'm here. I'm here. Just breathe."

….

"Steve."

"What is it this time Romanov?"

"If you want to fix this, come with me." Natasha's tone demanded it of him, and Steve obliged, following her out of the room, hesitantly.

…..

"Agent Barton."

"Hey Jarvis, thought Tony had taken you with him."

"I am installed into all of Mr. Stark's personal properties I do not leave, unless I am uninstalled."

"What do you want Jarvis?"

"Doctor Banner had requested your presence in the green room."

"The green room? Why?"

"I was not told this information, I was told that you were required urgently."

"Shit." Clint was on his feet in an instant running for the lift. A million scenarios ran through his head. He arrived outside the green room and the corridor was empty and silent.

He looked around, confused, why was no one here? He looked towards the green room door. Of course, if that place was Hulk proof it was certainly sound proof. He approached the door warily and pressed his finger onto the intercom.

"Bruce, you in there?"

There was silence for moment, but finally a reply came.

"Yeah, Clint. I'm in here."

"Do you want me to come in?"

"Yeah it fine, the biometric scanner will let you in."

The door slid open silently revealing the bare room. There was a figure sat in the corner, knees bent and leant forward so his forehead was resting on his kneecaps. But the figure wasn't Bruce, it was unmistakeable even without making note of the sculpted blonde hair.

"Steve?"

Steve's head snapped up, and noting who was stood in front of him his eyes snapped to the door. "No, No, No, don't let the door…" Steve's hand snapped to the floor but before his arms could take his weight to lift him, there was a thud and a hiss as the door deadlocked. "…Close, great."

"What, what the hell is going on… where Bruce is." Clint looked round in confusion as he started to evaluate the situation.

"Hello Boys." Natasha's voice came over the intercom.

"Oh Fuck." Clint finally twigged.

"Let me tell you how this is going to work. You two are going to stay in here until you work this out."

"Well then you'll be waiting a long time Natasha!" Clint yelled anger flaring in his eyes.

"Well then so will you. Because the food and water is out here and I won't be opening that door for you to get any."

"Hey, that wasn't part of the plan Natasha." Bruce said to her as Clint went crazy hammering on the door, but no sound escaped.

"Relax Bruce I'm not going to kill them."

"You can't do this!" Clint yelled.

"Why not?" Natasha retorted and Clint just remained silent, accepting defeat. "You boys better start talking." The intercom clicked off and they were alone.

…..

"Colonel Rhodes."

Rhodey snapped to his feet, there was only a handful of reasons Jarvis would have woken him.

"Lights." He demanded, opening a draw and pulling on a pair of pants. "What is it? Is Tony ok?"

"I'm afraid the meeting has been moved forward."

"When?" Rhodey's eyes widened as grabbed the nearest t-shirt and flew towards the door.

He ran down the stairs, pausing momentarily in horror at the sight of blood on the white marble. He pulled himself together and sprinted through the workshop, finding his friend draped over a chair.

"Tony, it's ok, I'm here. I'm here. Just breathe."

Tony's face was glistening with sweat and his face was bloody and swollen where it had clearly made impact with something.

"What happened." Rhodey demanded as he gathered up his friend and moved him into a more comfortable position.

"It's starting." Tony hissed.

"Jarvis when?"

"The inhibitor has disengaged; the merge is 35% complete."

"Urgghh… well this isn't so bad then." Tony groaned as clenched his fist into his hair and let his forearms lay across his face.

Rhodey placed a supporting hand on his friend's shoulder and his eyes turned to the screens that were monitoring everything that was happening. He turned back to his friend, who was trying hard to hide his pain. He noticed the tension across his chest which was failing to rise and fall.

"Tony breathe, remember to breathe." As if on Command Tony took a deep slow breath and blew out again. A grimace spread across his face and the breaths failed to be heard.

"Again, Tony, breathe."

His breath came in pants, shaky but even. All of Tony's focus went into them, with barely another sound in the room. Rhodey could see a stronger wave of pain hit Tony. His head pressed roughly into the leather and every muscle in his body went rigid. A pained groan escaped his lips. He rolled reluctantly onto his side and curled up tightly into a ball. He raised his fist to his mouth and went to bite down on it, but Rhodey pulled his hand gently away.

"Not a good idea mate."

Tony gasped suddenly and all the tension left his body. His breaths slowed and became deeper again.

"Is that it?" Rhodey asked. He knew it had been less than two minutes, but watching that happen helpless to aid his best friend, it had felt like an eternity.

"It certainly feels better…" Tony's voice was barely whisper.

"The inhibitor will re-engage in 15 seconds. Colonel Rhodes I suggest you leave the room at this point." The false wall separating them from the Tony's workshop began to slide closed.

"Why? No, Tony I'm staying with you."

"Last time this happened I knocked out everyone in the room." Tony rolled onto his back hitting a button on the side the chair and out came the restraints.

"Tony?"

"Just go Rhodes, it's only for a few seconds."

Rhodey nodded and just managed to slip through the gap before the wall shut him off from his friend. He stood at the other side, Body tense insides churning, counting in his head. One Mississippi…. Two Mississippi… time was definitely slowing down. Three Mississippi, four Mississippi, five… There was a dull boom from behind the wall and the ground shook slightly. The lights dimmed, and flickered the glass rattled slightly but then everything slowed down.

Rhodey's heart thundered inside his chest and his mind clouded with panic. He took a deep breath and regained his composure. Five Mississippi… Six Mississippi… seven Mississippi…. Eight Mississippi.

"Thank God!" There was a quiet rumble as the wall began to slide open once more. The moment the gap was big enough Rhodey was back on the room. The chair was facing away from his, blocking his view of Tony. He flew across the room to his friend's side to find the restraints had already disappeared as if they were never there.

"Tony?" Tony's eyes were closed and he lay very still, but on hearing his friend's voice a weak smile spread across his face.

"See, not that bad." Tony croaked.

"Yeah sure. What was with the Earthquake then?" Rhodey smiled back. He still felt sick to the stomach, but Tony was, as ever, being Tony Stark.

"CAEB doesn't like being shut out." Tony coughed.

The billionaire began to try and sit up and instead of stopping him, Rhodey put a supportive hand around his back. "Take it easy Tony."

"Why would I do that?" Tony grinned weakly, but his eyes and body betrayed his exhaustion.

"Where do you want to go?" Rhodey asked, but Tony's lucidity was starting to fade.

"What time is it?" Tony wheezed.

"3:56 am." The voice in the ceiling replied.

"Want to go to bed. I got the day off right?" Tony slurred, exhaustion taking over.

"Yes Tony, you have the day off.

…

In the green room there had been very little meaningful conversation. Steve had been trying to make some headway with Clint, but his patience had quickly worn thin. There wasn't any point, he knew Clint would never change his mind, but it was infuriating. Steve knew this was his mess, but at least he was actually trying to do something about it, but Barton was just blocking him at every turn.

"Clint if you are really going to be that stubborn…"

"Me stubborn, what about you?"

"Clint please. We both want out of here, it's clear that you are never going to agree with my decision…"

"And you are never going to admit you were wrong."

Steve gripped the bridge of his nose and forced himself to keep his composure. "Why don't we just pretend like we've worked it out and be nice to each other for while so we can get out of here."

"I don't even want to pretend to be nice to a traitor."

"Clint seriously, a traitor."

"You _are_ a traitor. You betrayed a friend and that makes you a traitor."

"Oh, for God's sake." Steve's voice

"Language." Clint said indignantly.

"Barton, for crying out loud!" Steve barked and the room fell into silence again.

It was a while before Clint broke the silence.

"It won't work." He said solemnly. "Natasha will be recording this, besides do _you_ really expect to deceive her?"

"Is it not even worth a try?" Steve sighed.

Clint took a moment to consider and then spoke again. "You know what I haven't eaten since last night and I don't want to be starving myself for you, so yeah, it's worth a try."

Steve rolled his eyes. "I'm touched."

"Don't be." Clint spat back.

….

Rhodey had ended up carrying Tony back to his room. He'd been too tired to protest and there had been far too many stairs to try and walk him up in this state.

He sat by Tony's bed and watched him sleep. Only now did it hit him how tired he as himself, but that didn't matter. If this was just the beginning, he didn't want to know how much worse it was going to get. Tony looked so relaxed and peaceful now, but Rhodey could not stop seeing the flashes of him in pain. He didn't know why this was getting to him so much, he'd seen Tony through worse, much worse… but maybe this was just once too many.

His ran his fingers through Tony's hair and for the first time in the dark he noticed the dark bruise forming on his chin and the rattle to his breathing that he'd dismissed earlier. Concerned Rhodey investigated further, unzipping the hoody and noticed little patches of bruises across his chest and shoulders.

"Jarvis?" He whispered. Jarvis needed no further elaboration. A screen flickered on across the room and text appeared.

'Sir fell down the stairs attempting to get to the meeting room. All injuries are superficial.'

Rhodey sighed. He wouldn't be leaving Tony's side next time a 'meeting' was near. This one had caught them off guard, it had been so early, but why?

Rhodey pulled a Stark tablet towards him and began typing.

'Why did it happen so early?'

The reply was almost instant, and although it was silent, Rhodey could not helped but hear the voice that usually read it. 'Sir had a nightmare which accelerated the onset. It can now be confirmed that stress hugely accelerates the process.'

Rhodey sighed quietly. And returned his attention his friend who rolled over away from him, still fast asleep.

…

"How are you boy's doing then."

"Natasha please let us out, I'm starving." Clint whined.

"Not a chance."

"Have you not been listening?" Steve asked. "We've come to, well some sort of understanding."

"Yeah, I can't promise I won't bite his head off from time to time, but, well… we'll survive."

There was a tense pause as the two of them stared hopefully at the door.

"I'm sorry boy's I have been listening." Clint bashed the back of his head against the wall in frustration. "You are going to have to do a lot better than that if you want out of there."

The intercom clicked off and once more they were left alone.

"Ok, so what are we going to do now your plan failed?" Clint asked quietly.

"Maybe we should give them what they want." Steve said simply.

"Well that depends on you."

"I'd say it depends more on if you're willing to talk about this rather than jibe at me."

"It depends on whether or not you are willing to admit you made the wrong decision."

"Clint, why don't we do this the old-fashioned way? One of us talks, gets everything out, without interruption. Then swap over."

"Sure Steve, start talking." Clint said unpassionately.

Clint's attitude was really beginning to grate on Steve he'd been trying, he really had, to stay calm, be reasonable, and get Clint to talk to him. But he'd just had enough now.

"Fine Clint, tell me, tell me what you would have had me do in that situation. What decision would you have made if mine was so wrong?"

"I don't know Steve. I'm not saying it wasn't a difficult situation, or saying that I would have done a better job. Hell, I would probably have done nothing. I don't have a problem with the decision you made Steve, well I do obviously… but I can understand the reasons why you made it."

"Then what is it Clint, you're going to have to tell me, because I don't understand."

"It's that you are so damn adamant that you did the right thing. I know you feel guilty and I know you regret the consequences, but my problem is that you would do it all again if you had to."

"Yes, I would, the overall outcome is what we wanted, it was not the best way to get there but at least we got there."

"Got where?" Clint asked incredulously.

"The inhibitor is on and the CAEB is under control." Steve said blatantly.

"Yes, the inhibitor the thing that we didn't even know existed… the thing that apparently wasn't finished. The fact is Steve, the only reason everything turned out as it did, an outcome you deem to be 'what we all wanted' is quite frankly blind luck."

"Yes, luck was involved, but why the snipe about the outcome being what we all wanted… is this not what you wanted Clint?"

"The end outcome, getting the CAEB under control, yes that is what I wanted. What I didn't want was Tony to be handed over to SHIELD, come back with a smashed-up face, be forced to implant an unfinished piece of experimental tech and lose faith in his only friends so completely that he up and quits the Avengers."

Steve didn't say anything for a moment, just sat and considered what had been said, so Clint continued.

"Don't you think that Tony has been through enough with all this? I mean, if we had just waited Tony would have finished that inhibitor sorted the problem and everything would have been back to normal."

"Yes, I know that now Clint, but I was I supposed to know then? Tony had become a threat to the people closest to him, he had no control and we had no way forward… that we knew of."

"Yeah, here we go on the how can we trust Tony if he won't trust us. But that works both ways Steve, he wouldn't tell us because he knew we didn't trust him and because of that he couldn't trust us. Do you see that, do you see what that did to him, to us?"

"Ok Clint I see it. I screwed this up. I get that I should have trusted Tony, had faith. Of course, he was working on something to fix it, it's Tony. I should have known him better than that."

"It's not just that Steve, yes you could have done nothing, but if you had to do something you could have talked about it with us. I know you felt you had to make a decision then and there, but we could have talked about this, I mean Bruce knew about the inhibitor, he would have told us."

"I messed up Clint. I made the wrong decision, but it's hard you know? I'm expected to lead this team, I'm Captain America. When something goes down, you look to me. I should be the one that always knows what to do and quite frankly usually I don't, I just make the best call I can. I have to trust in my decisions, commit to them. When I'm unsure, I look to you guys and a lot of the time Tony has the answers when I don't. But when no one has the answer, or even part of the answer I feel like I'm the one who has to make the call, I feel like it's my responsibility and mine alone. I know it's wrong, I know we are a team… but that was the situation on the day and in that moment, I only saw one option and I had to go through with it."

"That's fair enough Steve. Leadership is not something I would ever ask for, and I know you are always the one left with the tough calls and when it doesn't work out I know you blame yourself, but Steve we are your team just let us help in future."

"Ok, Clint you have deal."

Clint was still angry, he was still sore because after all, none of this changed anything for Tony. But at least now he could stop hiding from Steve, they were hardly best buddies, they probably never would be for the time being he could live with him and he hoped that overtime that the situation will improve.

"Can we come out now?" Clint yelled and the door opened swiftly. "Thank God."

"See boys it wasn't that hard now was it?" Natasha and Bruce were stood just at the other side of the door.

"Yeah whatever, let me past I'm starving."

Bruce's phone started ringing and he look down at the caller ID, but turned the screen towards himself.

"Ermm, yeah ok I've got to take this." Everyone noticed the concern in Bruce's eyes as he turned and left quickly.

The phone stopped ringing before Bruce got to his room. He closed the door and sat down on the bed. He tapped the screen to dial Rhodey's missed call and raised it to his ear. He looked at his watch. It was midday, which with the time difference made it 9am in Malibu. The meeting wasn't due for another few hours at least. Was this just a pre-meeting call to ask a few questions? Or was it something else? He couldn't bite back the tingle of nerves in the pit of his stomach as he waited for Rhodey to pick up.

"Hey Bruce, thanks for getting back to me."

"Rhodey hey, what's up?"

"It happened during the night." Rhodey sighed. "Just thought you'd want to be filled in."

"Oh crap, that was early." Bruce rubbed his temples and felt sick to the stomach. "Do you know what brought it on so early? Was the algorithm off?"

"No, Jarvis has been able to confirm it's related to stress… he woke up from a nightmare in the early hours and it started, I nearly missed it but I got there just in time."

"OK, good. How is he?"

"Still sleeping, out like a light." The tone is Rhodey's voice was painful, whatever had happened it had not been good. "He's going to be sore when he wakes up, He fell down the stairs trying to get to his lab. It's not like we hoped, he can feel them coming… which is a good early warning I suppose but he's so disorientated somebody has to be close to him at all times."

"Rhodey, you sound like you need some rest. It's been a hard night for you as well remember."

"Yeah, I just want to make sure Tony's ok when he wakes up, then I'll get some rest."

Bruce was desperate to ask what it had been like, but he could hear the anguish in Rhodey's voice despite how hard he was trying to hide it.

"It was bad Bruce, yes it was short, but if that is the starting point and they're only going to get worse…"

"If you need to talk about it Rhodey…"

"It's hard to describe Bruce, but you'll see it for yourself soon enough, not that I want you too… but then you'll understand."

"Ok, let me know when he wakes up."

"Sure thing."

…

Bruce put down the phone and sighed. They had just lived through a nightmare in Malibu point. In one way, he was glad he hadn't been there, but in many more ways it was worse that he hadn't. He'd get his wish soon enough though. The boys had fixed things, there was nothing left for him to do here. Tony had, had his time, time to prepare for a long flight.

"Was that Tony?" Steve popped his head in the lab door.

"Steve, Hi, I'm sorry but this really isn't a good time." He said firmly. After the news he had just heard the mere sound of Steve's voice was making the Hulk stir.

"Bruce, you may have got me and Barton to sort things out, but we haven't that chance."

"Steve honestly there is nothing to sort out." Bruce's voice raised a little as he forced himself to control his breathing. He took off his glasses and massaged his temples."

"Well I'm sorry Bruce, but it doesn't sound like we're good. You have a problem with me and I get it, but how can we solve this."

"Seriously Steve, _I_ don't have the issue, my angry green friend on the other hand, is giving me a fair amount of grief right now, and so if you could just give me some space I will come and find you all later."

"Understood," Steve said sheepishly and left the room immediately.

It took a few hours for Bruce to regain his composure, but when he had he found the others on the communal floor.

"Bruce?" Steve asked hesitantly. "Are we good or do you want me to leave?"

"For now we're good Steve, but I can't guarantee that I won't need to make a sudden exit, so please try not to be confrontational."

"Understood." Steve nodded with a faint smile.

"So, questions?"

"Is he Ok?" Steve asked and Bruce was warmed to hear that, that was Steve's first concern. "I mean, I know he's pissed, feeling betrayed but… is he…

"Is he a danger to himself?" Natasha asked the question Steve was hesitant to speak.

"I don't think so, he's not making very good decisions…"

"What like quitting the avengers?" Clint blurted out.

"Is there any way I can get him to come back? Steve asked sincerely, but his voice was not very hopefully."

"No Steve. I'm sorry, but that's one thing he won't be moved on. Not yet anyway." Bruce said bluntly and Steve's shoulders dropped. He sighed, it was slowly sinking in how much of a mess he'd really made of things, but now wasn't the time for self-pity.

"Please tell me he's not alone."

"No, Rhodes is with him, he got leave."

Steve nodded.

"Me and Steve may have made things up, for now, but at the end of the day, this is Tony's house, we were only here as his guests, and well, he's not. I now he said he was making this place Avengers tower, but can we really stay here after everything?" Barton offered to the stoic room.

"Tony was really firm on that point. He means it, the place is ours. For the publics sake, we should be together for now, in New York. It may have been a while since the incident, but not everyone is our fans right now and we need to do our bit to make people feel safe again."

"That's a lovely concept Bruce, but how does that work when you and Tony aren't here."

"You're not staying?" Steve asked, it was the first he'd heard of it.

"Yes, it's not a good idea to be here right now. Steve, I honestly have no problem with you, what happened it's in the past, but I can't reason with the Hulk, I need a bit of time myself, to get things back to where they should be. Besides, the public don't want to see the hulk, or me for that matter. The hulk may have helped this time but at the end of the day it's still a monster."

"That's not the only reason though is it." Natasha fired back.

"No, Tony needs me."

"Have you talked to Rhodes?"

"Yes, and Tony is keeping busy, trying to find a way to sort out the problem with the inhibitor."

"Bruce, what is this inhibitor and when he said is not finished what does that mean?" Clint asked, concerned.

"The CAEB has made its own brainstem when it merged and it wasn't well protected. Tony was able to create a device that filters out the CAEB's powers, leaving just Tony. It was a pain to get right though, cut of the CAEB brainstem and it would have killed him, get it too low and it wouldn't have any effect."

"So, when he said it wasn't ready?"

"It was set slightly too high, when Fury put it on him, it was… painful."

"How painful." Steve asked, feeling sick.

"You don't want to know." Bruce said, his eyes were dark and angry.

"So, what's wrong with it now?" Natasha asked.

"It's still set too high and it makes it uncomfortable at times."

"In what way?"

"Headaches, ringing ears… nothing serious but Tony wants it right." Bruce lied and his eyes spoke volumes. There was a great deal of pain in there, a knowledge that he wasn't sharing, something which made him deeply concerned… and angry. The others saw it.

The room fell into silence for a while as everyone contemplated what had been said. It was Clint that broke the wistful quiet. "When are you leaving?"

"As soon as Tony's jet gets here, it set off a few hours ago."

"Well, we'll miss you Bruce." Clint said with a weak smile.

"Keep in touch." Steve said, leadingly.

"I will."

…..

Steve was no scientist and this inhibitor thing… was a bit mindboggling. Bruce had explained it really well, he wondered how a man like him, who worked on a completely different plane of understanding, could always bring it back sown to their level. It was something Tony never seem to manage, or never tried to achieve anyway, but now that Steve had the general gist he wanted to find out all he could. He picked up the Stark pad and started typing in things, hoping that Jarvis would have some sort of record.

He typed CAEB into the search box and the screen came up blank.

"There are no files of this name on the main server." Jarvis' automated response played through the otherwise unoccupied room.

"OK." Steve said. "What about on the Avengers private server?"

"1 project folder, 279 files access only by Mr. Stark and Doctor Banner."

"Great." Steve put down the tablet and sighed. He knew it was a long shot, after all Tony certainly wouldn't be leaving that stuff around for anyone to find and he certainly wasn't on the trustworthy list.

"Hang on, let's try this." He typed again onto the screen, this time it was the word inhibitor.

"One file on the Avengers secure server. Access key required."

"Let me guess, Banner's or Stark's only?"

"This file is open to Miss. Potts, Mr. Stark, Colonel Rhodes, Doctor Banner and Captain Rogers. Access key required."

"Wait what?"

"You have access to this file, if you would state or type you access key I will open the file."

Access key? Steve didn't have an access key? Or did Jarvis mean that thing Tony had, had them all set up when they first moved in? He couldn't remember that, it was ages ago… But what worried him more is why his name was on that list of people who had access, but none of the others were. Not Clint, nor Natasha, nor Thor… So why was he on that list? He wasn't sure he wanted to know now. Something was going on he didn't understand and if there was one thing he'd learned after this whole experience was he shouldn't just jump into things, but now he remembered the access key, well, he'd only ever had one access key. But Tony wouldn't have given him access to this unless he wanted him to see it, right? Unless he'd made a mistake and he wasn't supposed to be on that list. But Tony didn't make mistakes like that, certainly not about his privacy… There was only one way to find out and he made a silent promise to himself not to do anything rash.

"Peggy." Steve said.

"Access granted." A file popped up on Steve's screen and paused before he started to scroll through it. The more he saw the more confused he got. This was not what Bruce had made it out to be… Bruce had made it sound like it would just cut off Tony's powers, but it was… adjustable? Then his heart dropped into his stomach.

"Jarvis, what is the neutralise program?"

"The neutralise program is a last resort should the CAEB become a danger to life. It will instruct the inhibitor neutralise all electrical signals from the CAEB brainstem."

Steve contemplated that for a moment, he thought he knew what Jarvis meant, but he was praying he was wrong.

"What you are saying that Tony has a kill switch attached to the back of his neck!"

"Sir thought it was a sensible precaution."

"You have to be kidding me? And he gave me control of this!" It was starting to make sense now. "Because I'm the only one aren't I, I'm the only one who'd have the guts to press it. To end him."

Steve was furious. Furious at Tony for even creating this in the first place and even more furious that he was leaving him with the responsibility. Why was he always being made out to be the bad guy? And why didn't Tony tell him about this, he'd just left it there for him to find out. He probably never would have seen it if he hadn't been curious, or nosy as Tony would put it.

Steve took a few deep breaths and tried to let reason take over his angry thoughts. Tony was, for once, being utterly responsible. He knew hat and needed doing and he knew his old teammates well enough to know how they'd all keep looking for a way to save Tony, even if it meant people died. All of them apart from Steve Rogers. Captain America.

He turned his eyes back to the screen and despondently flicked through the rest.

"Insurmountable threat response?" Steve read aloud in confusion.

"Mr. Stark realised that despite his wishes, the CAEB's powers may be needed again should the world be posed with a threat that the Avengers are thoroughly outmatched by. In this instant, the level of inhibition can be reduced by mutual decision of the controlling parties."

"So, I can give Tony his powers back, or I can kill him."

"To return the CAEB powers you must all agree to do so."

"But it only takes one of us to kill him?"

"Indeed."

"Well that's a stupidly unbalanced. What if one of us is possessed, or makes the wrong decision?"

"There are safeguards in place to ensure that the person is acting under their own free will, as for mistakes, there is no safeguard."

Steve shook his head. This meant one of two things to him. Either he'd been wrong about Tony all along and he actually had placed immense trust in Steve. Tony was placing his life in Steve's hands, but it was more than that, he was placing it as his good grace. Steve could just wake up one morning pissed at Tony Stark and decide to kill him and there was nothing stopping him.

Or it meant that Tony really didn't care at all about his own life, so much so he was unwilling to put up any safeguards against the scenario he'd just envisaged.

Or maybe, Steve mused, it was a bit of both.

Either way Steve had yet another huge responsibility thrust upon him. One he certainly didn't want, but since he had it he was going to make sure he knew everything about this 'God device' he'd been given control of. That was his responsibility.

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	23. Chapter 23- Surprise guests

**Another update for you.**

 **Thank you for all the new Followers, hope I'm still engaging the interest of those who've been there since the beginning.**

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 **Enjoy**

 **Chapter 23- Surprise guests**

Bruce had been waiting for a long time to get out of the city. He was now cruising at 41,000ft somewhere north of Jacksonville at a guess, but he kept the window blinds firmly shut. He was ok flying, of course, but he didn't want to tempt fate.

The flight had been blissful. For the first time in, well, it felt like forever, Bruce had been able to keep his mind from wandering onto recent events. He hadn't worried about Tony, or the avengers, he hadn't thought about the impending doom that Tony seemed to be seeing in his nightmares and the last thing he thought about was the Hulk.

When the tyres touched the tarmac and there was a familiar face waiting on the runway, he felt refreshed, like a weight had been lifted. It amused him really, Tony's presence should have bumped him back down to earth, figuratively as well as literally, but after all but a few peaceful hours alone, he felt ready to face anything… and how he'd missed his best friend.

"Brucie!" Tony's enthusiasm was somewhat diminished by the near grey complexion to his skin. There were heavy bags under his eyes and his cheekbones seemed unusually pronounced, due to his pallor. But his eyes told a different story, they were bright, full of happiness at seeing Bruce walk down the Jet's steps. That at least was a relief.

There was idle chat in the car on the way back, Bruce was pleased to see that Rhodey was in the back of the limo and that Tony wasn't here alone. He hadn't expected him to be up at all considering it was less than a day since his first 'meeting'.

"Hungry?" Tony asked as they pulled up outside the Malibu mansion.

"Yes, I am actually." Bruce admitted. He hadn't been thinking of food on the flight, despite having a stewardess at his beck and call. Tony had really overdone it as usual, the jet, the limo and his luggage already in his room waiting as they entered the exuberant open living room at Malibu point. Bruce instantly loved the place, it was bright open and the view was spectacular. It was relaxing here, truly peaceful and it was so, Tony. He could see why he loved it here, and it was the perfect place for him to be at a time like this.

"No, you're going to go sit down and get some more rest." Rhodey grabbed Tony by the shoulders and directed him away from the kitchen that he was heading straight for.

"But the good doctor needs food."

"Yes, I know, but that's not your job right now, besides last time you tried to make an omelette it took you three hours and we don't want to poison Bruce when he's just got here."

"Guy's its fine I'll sort myself out." Bruce called through as he collapsed into a heap on the sofa. He didn't understand how travelling could be so tiring when all you do was sit down for most of the journey.

"No Bruce it's fine, I'm hungry myself so I'll just double up on the portions."

"Thanks Rhodey I appreciate it."

"Tony?"

"Not hungry."

"Eat something?" Rhodey pleaded.

"Rhodey I don't feel like it."

"Look, I'll make extra if you can manage even a few bites I'll feel like I've achieved something."

"Ok Rhodey, I'll try."

"Thank you."

Bruce smiled at Tony's lack of resistance. Bruce could tell he wanted to just be back to normal but he could tell by the way he moved, taking great care not to do anything suddenly, that he felt like shit. But already more colour was returning to his cheeks just in the car journey from the airstrip. He was perking up quickly, but it was important that he didn't do too much too soon.

"Dare I ask how you are doing?" Bruce asked softly.

"Getting there." Tony smiled. "It wasn't actually as bad as I expected, for the main part. I was not expecting the finale to be quite so bad though."

"When the inhibitor re-engaged?"

"Yes, it was, well it wasn't as bad as when it first got put on, so fingers crossed that gets better with time."

"That would make a nice change." Bruce nodded, trying to keep the optimism in his voice, even though his words expressed his scepticism. "What are your symptoms?" Bruce proceeded cautiously, he was pleased that Tony was being so open but he was all too aware of how quickly that could change where Tony was concerned.

"Initially… extreme fatigue, mentally I was, gone. Could barely string my thoughts together. After some sleep, it's just like I'm walking round with a weight strapped to me. Moving quickly gives me the spins, I just feel a bit delicate."

"Noise sensitive." Bruce said with a raised voice. Tony put his hands to his temples in a sharp response.

"Apparently so." Tony grimaced

"And a complete lack of appetite?"

"Yes, that too. But don't feel sick. Just the thought of food feels wrong."

"Fair enough," Bruce stopped there, Tony was at least going to try and eat something and he had no more questions so it was time to move the topic away from the unpleasant experience that was likely still fresh in his friend's mind.

Rhodey smiled at the light laughter echoing through the house as he stirred away in the kitchen, he couldn't quite help feeling a pang of jealously at how well the two of them got on, after all he had been Tony's only friend for the last 20 years, but any childish feelings were hugely overruled by the joy he felt hearing the excitement in Tony's voice. Rhodey wasn't stupid, he had an MIT degree too, but Bruce could really keep up with Tony's train of thought, or close enough.

The three of them had a pleasant evening. Tony ate a few mouthfuls as promised but that was it. In the middle of the night Rhodey heard the patter of bare feet on tiles and sat up on his bed. He sat and listened for a while. He hadn't slept yet, he was still paranoid that Jarvis would call him for another 'meeting' if he fell asleep even for a moment. It was irrational, the next one wasn't due for just over a week, but after everything that had happened he thought he was perfectly entitled to being a bit of an emotional mess.

There was the sound of doors opening and shutting and quiet rustling. Rhodey frowned and scratched his head as he tried to figure out what was going on. He was about to leave when he heard the feet returning the route they came.

He got up a few minutes later and smiled as he saw a dropped packet of crisps not far from his door and a stray pop tart at the bottom of the stairs. Tony had finally got hungry and maybe it wasn't the most nutritious midnight snack but it was better than nothing.

The next morning Bruce came down and opened the refrigerator and looked inside in confusion. The milk was gone. He could have sworn there had been some the night before. Then he noticed there was a lot more than that missing from the shelves in front of him. The cheese had gone, a tub of yogurt, all the fruit, the packet of cooked chicken. He opened the cupboard and saw that the cereal he had been intending to eat was also gone, as were most of the crisps, a bag of peanuts, a box of pop tarts, some water bottles, a few cans of fizzy drink and a tray of muffins.

"Morning Bruce." Rhodey said cheerfully. Bruce looked at him in concerned confusion.

"What's up?" Rhodey asked.

Bruce "This is going to sound weird, Bruce frowned, "But I think someone broke in here last night and ate all the food."

Rhodey chuckled. "What?" He walked over to Bruce, looking in to the cupboard that was so concerning the scientist and his own brow furrowed in turn.

"Tony got up last night for a midnight snack, but I don't see how he could have eaten this much." Rhodey said incredulously.

"That's not it, look in the refrigerator." Bruce pointed at the offending empty refrigerator.

"Yikes."

The pair made their way up to the room of the still sleeping engineer and carefully opened the door so as not to wake him. The sight before them made it impossible to hold in their laughter. The floor was carpeted in empty wrappers and half eaten confectionary. The milk and the yoghurt were on the bedside table, the spoon still sticking out of the carton were no more than an inch of yoghurt remained. There was an empty bowl on the end of the bed and a precariously balanced box of cereal hanging off the edge.

Tony woke up with a start at the intrusion of his room to see his two friends on the floor beneath his door frame in fits of hysterical laughter. He was initially a little confused, but looking around his room and seeing the extent of the mess he had made in his desperate search for food last night, he too burst into laughter.

….

48 hours, that's all it had been. 48 hours and Bruce was being called by none other than Steve Rogers.

"Bruce, there's something really weird going on in New York and I'm sorry to ask this but could you come back and try to make sense of these energy readings?"

"What sort of weird." Bruce asked bluntly.

"Bad weird, like the sky is warping, weird."

"Warping?" Bruce sat up in alarm.

"Yeah, every now and again it looks like it's moving, right above the tower."

"Jesus." Bruce hissed. Whatever this was Bruce was certain was nothing good. He looked across at Tony who was busy at the other side of the workshop. Headphones on he was oblivious to the conversation across the room.

"SHIELD and JARVIS both picked up these reading but we don't know what they are, they do resemble the tesseract slightly, but we need an expert." Steve continued when he was met by silence on the other end of the line.

"Can you send me the readings." Bruce said with a sigh.

"Yeah, sure Jarvis should already have them, but I think something is about to go down Bruce. We need you here."

"Steve, I'm still jetlagged, and anything I can do for you there I can do just as well here, I have the equipment…."

"Bruce, I'm sorry, I meant the other guy."

"Of course, you did." Bruce huffed.

"I am sorry Bruce, really, I am, but if that thing is going to open again…"

"I'll call you back." Bruce growled.

He hung up abruptly.

…

Steve turned around to face the room slightly nervously. "He hung up."

"What did you say?" Natasha said calmly.

"Natasha, you heard the whole conversation."

"So, it's about the other guy?" Clint asked. "I mean he knows the deal right, he was ok with it before."

"No, I don't think it was that…" Natasha said. The Hulk wasn't the reason Bruce didn't want to come back, it was Tony and knowing that Natasha couldn't help but feel a pang of worry bit at her insides. She knew Tony could be self-destructive, and he had been in far from a good place when he had left. Tony hadn't broken down through this whole thing, not really and trauma like that was going to catch up eventually.

"He did say he'd call back… and he's got the readings." Steve offered

"Leave it he'll be here." Clint said with conviction. Bruce wasn't the sort to let down his team, even if he was the sort to put Tony first.

"Maybe we shouldn't ask him to come, unless we really need him."

"Natasha, why?" Clint asked.

"Just a feeling."

"Just a feeling?" Clint raised his eyebrow, knowing there was far more to this than she was letting on.

"Besides, Natasha if we did need him it would be too late to call him he's on the other side of the country, it would take him too long to get here."

Steve had a point. He had a very good point. She would leave the decision to Bruce, he knew what he was doing.

…

"Tony." Bruce tapped the man on the shoulder and he took off his headphones to listen.

Tony crawled out from under the desk where he had been working. He'd had a smile on his face since he'd been allowed back in the lab, but his face fell when he saw Bruce's unknowingly dark expression.

"Bruce, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing Tony, really… but I might need to go back to New York …."

"Steve called you, didn't he?"

"Yes." Bruce sighed.

"You don't need to tip toe round me Bruce. It was my choice to leave. I'll have the jet prepped." Tony said with a smile

"Tony to be honest, I really don't want to go, you need me here and…"

"Bruce if you are staying for me honestly, it's ok, I don't mind."

"I don't want to go back there right now, for every reason, but I think I'm going to have to."

Tony's brow furrowed as he pointless tried to wipe the oil off his hands. "What's going on?"

"Honestly, it could be nothing… probably just wake from the tesseract... but it could be something and Steve is all paranoid."

"Go, figure it out, call me if you need me. All being well you should be back in a few days."

"Tony, I'll be back in time for the meeting come hell or high water."

"Nice to hear, but don't worry about it. Do what you need to, I've got everything I need here and I'll be fine whatever happens."

…..

"Guy's, you need to get to 57th and 3rd now." Bruce was staring at the laptop intently, but nobody could miss the very real and heavy concern in his tone.

"Bruce what's going on?" Natasha was by his side instantly.

"I'm not sure yet, but, something I'm getting some alarming fluctuations and I could do with some clearer readings."

"Battle gear?" Clint asked.

"Can't hurt." Steve said, ever the over prepared boy scout.

"Bit conspicuous." Natasha said. "Not everyone is our biggest fan right now." Natasha leaned down over the computer Bruce was working on and examined the readings on the screen. "And it might be nothing…" She said hesitantly. "Anything you can give us Bruce?"

"Best case scenario, just an anomaly or some delayed aftermath from the main event… worst case we could be dealing with another wormhole."

"What?" Clint did a double take. "Seriously? How?"

"The energy signatures and radiation from the initial event…" Bruce realised that no-one was going to understood what came next so changed his tact. "The first wormhole could have destabilised the boundaries of space, creating weak points where other portals may open. There are three potential sites I can see so far, spread throughout the city."

"Oh great, just what we need."

"So far only one is active, but I could be wrong."

"Bruce, when are you ever wrong." Clint retorted.

"Well, you know I made one pretty big mistake a few years back…"

"Ok." Steve drew them back on track. "Let's take a car, cover the uniforms and gather what we can. Bruce, could something come through if a portal did open."

"Of course, but it could open anywhere in the universe, so the chances are that there will be nothing at the other side. But on the other hand, there is always a chance."

"Right move out…" Steve ordered and the room emptied.

….

"Tony, stop what you are doing, it's 2am, get your ass to bed now."

"Five minutes."

"You said that 4 hours ago, Jarvis woke me up because your stress levels are rising and you know the effect that will have."

"Fine. I'm coming, just got to connect this."

"No, now"

"Seriously Rhodey, if you want to raise my stress levels, forcing me to leave something unfinished is the best way to do it, I won't sleep at all with that hanging over me."

Rhodey considered and sighed. "Right, five minutes, and I'm timing it. After that I'll knock you out and drag your ass out of here unless you come willingly."

"Deal." 2 minutes and 26 seconds later Tony looked up and held up his hands in triumph.

"Done!"

"Thank you, now bed you. And shower first, you stink."

"Brutal, but true." Tony said. He didn't even need to smell the offending armpit, he could feel it.

"What had you so stressed anyway?"

"I thought I'd done the math wrong."

"What?" Rhodey snapped round. "You got the math wrong?" Tony hadn't got a calculation wrong the whole time that he'd known him, since a 15-year-old starting at MIT.

"Yeah, I know… see why I was stressed!" Tony huffed. "Turns out the equation was perfect as always it was the equipment that was calibrated wrong."

"I was going to say there must have been an explanation." The pair of them had a chuckle at the situation as they walked up the marble stairs. Rhodey couldn't let Tony anywhere near those stairs without walking close to him, he'd seen the footage of his fall on the night of the last meeting. Anyone else would have been in hospital, it was spectacular…. And now Rhodey couldn't stop it replaying in his head every time Tony lifted a foot.

"Thank you Rhodey."

Rhodey looked at his friend puzzled. "What for Tony?"

"For not lecturing me on staying up late. I get that I have to be careful with all this going on, but, well normal working hours is something I've never done."

"I get it Tony, I can see you are making an effort." Rhodey patted him lightly on the back. "Besides, I agreed it with Bruce that he's the one giving the lectures and I'm just the enforcement."

"Oh." Tony quipped, "good to know my two best friends are organised.

"What are you working on anyway?"

"The joint project. I have to make sure my cover story is actually real."

"How's it going?"

"You know what, I thought it was going to be boring but it's actually quite fun."

….

"What have got guys."

"Nothing, it's just a street Bruce." Natasha stared at the scene in front of them. They blocked the road and closed down the area. There were SHIELD vehicles everywhere and a dozen people milling about setting up Bruce's stuff. A small crowd had gathered at the barrier at the end of the street and it was only a matter of time before word got out that the avengers were there and the news crews came running.

"I mean the readings, have you got the equipment set up yet."

"SHIELD techs are sorting it." Clint replied.

Clint and Natasha were in uniform, but they blended right in with the other SHIELD agents on scene, although for the gathering onlookers Natasha's red hair was a tell-tale sign and is why it was tied in a ponytail and partially hidden under a baseball hat.

Clint's bow was with Steve's Shield, out of sight but in easy reach on the back seat of the pickup they'd arrived in. Steve himself had resorted to wearing a long trench coat to cover the fact he was wearing the full stars and stripes spandex underneath. There was a very nervous buzz to the air, and anticipation that he could almost taste with his super heightened senses.

"Alright, I'm getting it through now guys and it's off the charts. Whatever is going to happen, it's going to happen, like, now."

"Ok guys action stations."

"Actions stations? Can you get any more corny?"

"Save it Clint." Steve was tired and he wasn't really in the mood for anyone's jibes right now. The tension has been building inside him since the first time the sky had warped above the tower. He hadn't been sleeping, he hadn't been able to shake a terrible feeling that something bad was about to happen and Clint' flippancy was not helping his nerves. The fact is he couldn't bare to lose anyone else and he'd lost Tony. Maybe he wasn't dead, but he might as well have died, he'd seen something in his eyes had left. The hope had gone and without hope there was no life.

"Sorry Captain touchy."

Something snapped.

"You know what Barton…" Steve advanced on the unwitting archer and grabbed him roughly by his collar.

Natasha move fast, grabbing Steve by his hair and wrenching him away. "What the hell is wrong with the pair of you." She placed herself firmly between them and looked from one to the other incredulously.

"Guys Incoming!" Bruce yelled over the coms.

The air in front of them started to flicker and dance. It looked not unlike a heat haze but suddenly the street started to get very cold.

"What's going on Bruce?" Natasha asked

"It's open, the portal is open."

"Somethings coming through!" One of the Shield agents yelled as the sound of scuttling could be heard faintly and the air flickered more violently. Steve and Clint ran back to the car and gathered their weapons. Natasha didn't need any of those.

The scuttling intensified, it was like the scratching of a hundred needles drumming in a metal floor.

"This doesn't sound good." Clint said, veins pulsing in his neck.

"Is this a code green?"

"Standby Banner."

Little sparks of blue erupted in the air in front of them and the world seemed to tear revealing the deep blackness of space behind. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the tear in front of them. The picture on the other side was blurred but Steve knew what they were looking at, it was the surface of another world.

Something brushed past Steve's foot and made his attention snatch away. He staggered backwards bumping into Clint.

"Watch it Steve!"

"Look down!"

Scuttling round the asphalt was a confused, centipede like creature. It was just over a foot long, with a heavily armoured back. It's purple plates where flecked with green and an uncountable number of legs whizzed nervously as it tried to retreat but found itself surrounded.

"Over here!" An agent yelled as another one was spotted disappearing into a pipe.

"And here."

Many more creatures could be seen running around the street, but none of them seemed threatening, more scared. But they couldn't let them get away, it would cause mass panic.

"What the hell are we going to do about these!" Natasha yelled.

"This." Clint yelled as he leapt into the air and brought both feet down hard on top of the nearest creature. There was a sickening squelch as the creature's green gooey innards spooled onto the street.

"Lovely Clint. Just brilliant." Natasha said dispassionately.

"Well come on!" Clint beckoned, stamping om another, "Before they scuttle away. We'll never find them if they separate and spread out all over New York."

"Clint stop it. We should try and catch them, they're harmless!"

"Technically Natasha we don't know that."

"Come on guys, imagine you're just wandering round your planet minding your own business and the next thing you know you've fallen through a hole in space and a fat twat starts stamping on your friends."

"Hey!" Clint retorted before realising she had a point. "Ok everyone." Clint turned around and started scanning the street. He picked up a cardboard box that had been discarded on the side walk in a pile of others. "Everyone grab a box."

….

"So that was it? There's no more readings?" Clint asked a little suspiciously.

"It would appear not." Bruce said plainly, he'd been there 4 days now, they had, had two other instances which had both been a little more challenging than the space centipedes, but nothing that the three of them couldn't handle. He had been immensely glad of the lack of code green, but now the risk was past, he really needed to get back to Tony now.

"Well that was the biggest anti-climax I think I've ever dealt with." Clint threw his hands in the air. "Bit disappointing really."

"Clint, seriously you want the Chitauri back here?" Steve asked.

"No, but centipedes, all be it big ones, those weird thorny things… and then those cute puppy's."

"Clint, those 'thorny things' were poisonous and those 'mega-wolves' put 4 agents in the hospital."

"Yes, but they were hardly the Chitauri space whales and we've managed to contain the whole thing… If that is it I think we got away pretty lightly."

"Yes true." Steve said solemnly running his tongue over the cut on his lip from the last instance to see if it had heeled yet. The taste of copper told him otherwise. "Call me paranoid, but I don't think it is over."

"I wish I didn't agree with you..." Clint sat up from where he'd been sprawled on the sofa, dumping the frozen peas he'd been holding to his forehead on the table. "But I have been bad vibes for a long time now and well, after today they haven't gone away…"

"They've just got worse?" Natasha interrupted.

"So, we've all been having them?" Steve looked around and Bruce was just staring at the floor. "Bruce?"

"I have too, but it's the Hulk that's really noticing. I can feel him getting… nervous. And that's wrong on so many levels."

The room stayed in a stoic silence for a moment as Steve considered asking about Tony. If anyone was feeling vibes the most strongly, or had any idea what it was they were feeling surely it was him. He couldn't bring himself to form the words and the look in Bruce's eyes said very certainly that he didn't have anything to add.

"Anyway, I need to go. But you know how to reach me."

"Say hi for me." Clint said cheerily. He didn't feel the need to tiptoe round the issue like the others.

"I will Clint. I'll be upstairs packing if anyone needs me before I go."

"Take care Bruce." Natasha smiled.

…..

"It's going to have to be quick Pepper I have a meeting, like, now..."

"It's usually me blowing you off for appointments. It's like you've got an actual real job for a change."

"I used to do your job remember."

"No Tony I used to do my job, even when it was your name on the contract… remember? And before that it was Obadiah. You have never taken the role of CEO seriously."

"I did." Tony retorted.

"When?"

"On the day I signed over the company to you."

"Oh, ha ha. Anyway, if you're so busy I just need to know when you'll be free to sign the paperwork for damage control"

"When they change the things I told them to. Now are we good? I've really got to go." Tony could feel the pain starting to well in his temples and he knew he was going to start getting very disorientated, very soon, but he was down the stairs now, Rhodey by his side and Bruce waiting beyond the wall.

"Yeah ok, I love you Tony. I miss having you in New York."

"I miss you too Pep." Tony smiled, pausing before entering the meeting room. "Come up this weekend." He offered, Rhodey looked at him concernedly and tapped his watch. They didn't have a lot of time.

"I'm sorry Tony, but this weekend I have to look over the paperwork for Roxxon's proposal."

"Yeah, but you don't have any meetings. Just come up. Work somewhere with a view." Tony waved off Rhodey and Bruce who were becoming silently insistent and walked into the room

"That sounds good. I'll talk to Happy and get the jet booked."

"Love you Pepp." Tony hung up and the straps went on.

"Are you sure you want her here Tony, the next one is going to be soon after this." Bruce said

"It's time I told her."

"I'm sorry Tony, I really thought I had the answer."

"You have part of it Bruce and it's really good, but I don't know if I can make it work in time."

"We'll keep trying."

"Of course. Sorry, I think I better cut the chitchat now, because it's starting to hurt."

Bruce put his hand on Rhodey's shoulder, who had his hand on Tony's and then it began.

…

Coulson knew he shouldn't be here… If Fury found out he'd be furious. Outside of his team no one was supposed to know that he was still alive. Tony already knew though and he had heard about him quitting the avengers. That was a bold move, even by Stark and not one he was sure was in his best interests. It was about time he dropped round as promised.

Jarvis let him in the front door no problem, it seemed Tony had notified his AI that Coulson had been invited, but he was asked to wait by the door, which is exactly what he did.

It was only a few seconds later that Bruce appeared. Coulson was surprised to see him here. As far as he had been aware all the 'serving' Avengers had still been at Stark Tower. Clearly that information was outdated. Bruce was pale and withdrawn. He looked haunted, exhausted and he didn't even notice Coulson stood there. Bruce went to the sink and turned on the tap, allowing it to run cold as he looked for a glass. Coulson couldn't help but feel concerned by Bruce's appearance and lack of awareness. He cleared his throat but the man still didn't notice him.

Bruce was somewhere else. He'd got back just in time for Tony's second meeting and it had been ok. He could see the pain in Tony's face but it was by his own admission short enough to be bearable. But less than a fortnight back and the third meeting, that had been horrific. Tony had tried not to make a noise, but this time he hadn't been able to stop the screams. Bruce clenched his eyes shut, and squeezed the glass a little too hard as he tried to force the sight of tony tied down ad writhing in agony out of his head.

"Dr. Banner, are you ok?" Coulson said just as a crack began to form in the glass.

"Coulson?" Bruce looked up and Coulson could see whatever thought he'd been having, grow smaller in his eyes. "What are you doing here?" He asked perplexed and alarmed.

"I met with Tony a few weeks ago and he invited me round."

"Oh, ok."

"You don't seem surprised that I'm alive." Coulson said curiously.

"No, I've known for a while, Tony isn't the only one who can hack SHIELD servers."

"Why were you hacking SHIELD?"

"I wasn't actually, just making a point."

"Then how?"

"Tony just leaves stuff lying around on his desktop and we've been sharing computers for a while."

"Good to know." Coulson said concerned. It was bad enough that Tony could see everything SHIELD were doing whenever he wanted but now learning that he wasn't so worried about keeping it secure was a little concerning. Still, this was Tony and right now he was more concerned about what the hell was happening.

Rhodey came up the stairs at a run. "Bruce, Jarvis says Coulson's here to see Tony, but I thought you guys said Coulson was… dead." Rhodey stopped and stared at the man in the doorway like he'd seen a ghost, and technically he could say he had.

"Not dead." Coulson said, with a simple turn of his wrists.

"Nice to know… But why don't you seem surprised?" Rhodey looked at Bruce.

"I know, Tony knows. Nobody else knows."

"Ok, so when were you going to tell the rest of us."

"Well Tony doesn't know that I know, so I was waiting on him…"

Bruce filled up the glass and turned off the tap, which had been running for far too long. Though he realised it would hardly dent Tony's budget.

Coulson saw the same haunted expression in Rhodey's eyes and every nerve in his body itched. If the two of them were here, where the hell was the man in question? If his friends were traumatised, what on earth had happened to Tony?

"If you're here to see him Coulson, you should have called ahead, he's in a meeting."

"Yes, I heard about that collaboration… He's been very busy with the project… it has NASA very excited and the Russians rather worried."

"Yes, well he won't be back till this afternoon."

"Guy's… slight problem." Tony's voice called quietly from the level below. The two of them instantly cringed and started forward.

"Well that's odd, it sounds like he's downstairs." Coulson smirks.

Tony's mess of brown hair just became clear as he took the steps very slowly. Rhodey ran forward. Not the stairs, not in his state. Why the hell had he got up? Tony took another step and his face became visible, everyone's hearts stopped. His pale face and the front of his white shirts were drenched in blood. Bruce dropped the glass and started to run. Coulson got there first, just as Tony's eyes rolled back into his head and his legs buckled. Coulson grabbed Tony's arm as he pitched backwards, Rhodey hit the floor and slid down the first few stairs, sliding his body under Tony's before his ribs could smash into the marble.

"Bring him up here, quickly."

Rhodey carried up to the ground level and laid down Tony's unconscious form.

"Where is all this coming from?" Rhodey asked.

"Ermmm…. Nosebleed, a frigging huge nosebleed." Bruce growled. "Get me something to wipe this off will you, I need to see if it's still bleeding."

Coulson obliged, deciding not to ask any questions for now. He ran to the sink and returned quickly with a handful of damp towels.

Tony started to stir as wiped down his face and neck. The bleeding appeared to be slowing, just coming in small drops. Tony eyes opened and he tried to sit up but Bruce had to lift him and prop him against the wall.

"Rhodey will you go show Coulson the view or something." Bruce suggested.

"Follow me Coulson."  
Bruce waited until the two of them were out of sight before he placed a clean towel in Tony's hand.

"Hold this under your nose and keep your head tilted forward while I go get you a clean shirt."

Tony nodded gently, trying hard to stay awake. He felt so weak. That one had been something else. He hadn't wanted to scream like he had, but it had hurt so much. He could see what it was doing to Bruce and Rhodey, watching him go through this, he'd wanted to save them from it. But he couldn't be more grateful that they had been there. Tony tried to look around the room but everything was just a colourful blur, he couldn't make anything out or figure out where he was.

"Bruce." He called, the world around him fading. "Bruce."

"I'm here Tony. You ok?"

"Thirsty."

"Yes of course, Sorry." He'd left Tony in the first place to get him some water, he wouldn't be leaving him alone again in future.

Bruce helped Tony drink slowly and finished cleaning the blood from his skin and finally got him into a clean t-shirt.

"What were you thinking walking around in that state?"

"I wasn't really, my head's all over the place."

"I know, but you do realise we're going to have to explain this to Coulson now."

"Coulson's here?"

"Yes."

"Oh yeah I invited him."

"And when was this exactly?"

"When he rescued me from Fury."

"Oh, so that's what happened."

"Yeah, and we won't have that much explaining to do. I told him most of it."

"Well that's some comfort at least. I couldn't see you explaining your way out of this one."

Tony smiled, but he wasn't really with it.

"I'll get Rhodey, let's get you to bed."

"I'm fine." Tony mumbled his head twitching as he jerked himself back from sleep.

"No, you're not. I was in there too you know." Bruce looked upwards, he didn't really feel comfortable leaving Tony alone, even for moment. If he passed out now he would probably slide and hit the floor and he'd seen enough blood for one day. "Jarvis?"

"Colonel Rhodes is on his way."

Rhodey carried Tony to bed as he had done the past two occurrences and stayed with his sleeping friend while Bruce went down to face the questions that Coulson would inevitably have.

"Is he ok?" It was the main thing on Coulson's mind and the first thing that he asked before Bruce had even had a chance to sit down.

"In a manner of speaking, he'll be back to his usual self after a couple of hours sleep.

"So, I'm guessing that this was all to do with whatever he picked up in New York? And I'm also going to take a stab as to the reason Tony has taking on this collaboration project is mainly as a cover for what is going on."

"This will be easier to fill you in if you tell me what you already know." Bruce suggested.

"Yes of course." Coulson took a moment to gather his thoughts. "He didn't give me anything in much detail… but he told me that he picked up something after New York, he had powers, something that could destroy the universe was controlling him, but then became part of him… he was struggling to get control and Steve told Fury, which is when we met up… He also said something about being held prisoner on Asgard? He has telekinetic abilities, shielding, Telepathy and Astral projection… time manipulation."

"Woah, wait what."

"Is that wrong?

"The first two I knew about, but astral projection, time manipulation?"

"Yes, he used them to communicate with me on my plane, he didn't tell you what happened did he?"

"No, no he hasn't, but to be fair our minds have been in other things."

"Do you know about the inhibitor."

"Yes, I know it blocks his powers and I know it wasn't right, he said something about it screwing with his nervous system."

"Ok, well looks like we've got a few gaps to fill there, but you need to fill me on what happened when Fury had him."

"Deal." Coulson nodded and after a pause Bruce proceeded.

"Well the CAEB is some sort of ancient sentient being, all powerful and completely evil, intent on destroying everything…" Bruce began his monologue, but kept pausing, partly to gather his thoughts but mainly to make sure that Coulson was following. The man in question listened intently.

"The inhibitor was not ready," Bruce was reaching the end. "That means that it can't be left on permanently or it will kill him, but the processes of disengaging it causes him… to merge again and that is hugely painful… and it's getting worse every time. You walked in on the aftermath of number 3."

"How often are these things?"

"At first… a few weeks apart, now less than a week, they are only going to get more regular."

"Right." Coulson paused to take it all in. "My turn?"

Bruce waved him to continue and Coulson told his part of the story. Coulson had to admit he hated the fact that Tony had powers, not because it was Tony Stark and he was a 'liability' but because he'd been through enough without all of this. Tony stark was Iron Man, that's the way Tony liked it and that's the way it should have stayed.

"We got him out, but he was in a terrible way. It took him a while to get control over his muscles. But when he did he punched the director in the face and then we took him back to the tower."

"Bet Fury was pleased about that."

Yes thrilled. But it was pretty good to watch actually."

"Well I'd hope so, I was really mad." A voice came from above them as Tony trotted carefully down the stairs.

"He wouldn't stay in bed." Rhodey said dejectedly. He was clearly as exhausted as Tony, as was Bruce, but with his bubbly persona fully in tact the only thing that betrayed Tony Stark's fragility in this moment was the unhealthy shade of grey portrayed by his face.

"Well I have a guest." Tony smiled. "Come Agent," Tony beckoned him into another room. "Please tell me you've been to Portland?"

"I'm supposed to be dead."

"Ah, yes… didn't think of that."

"Just a second Tony, I'll catch you up." Tony just waved and carried on, flopping on to a sofa and rearranging the cushions. "I'll keep an eye on him for a few hours." Coulson said turning to Rhodey and Bruce. "Get some sleep the pair of you, you look like death warmed up."

"Thanks Phil, I appreciate it." Bruce said

"Looking at him he won't last long before he conks out again, so hopefully you'll have an easy job." Rhodey patted Phil on the shoulder and jogged off, desperate for a few hours rest.

…..

Bruce woke up warm and relaxed, the early morning sunlight streamed through the window. Shit, it was morning… It had been mid-afternoon when he'd fallen asleep.

He was suddenly wide awake. Tony, he hadn't checked on him… "Jarvis…"

"Mr. Stark is fine Doctor Banner. Colonel Rhodes and Agent Coulson are with him,"

Bruce heaved a sigh of relief and flopped back onto the bed, allowing his heart rate to slowly settle as his sleepy fuddled mind started to recall the previous day's events.

He got himself dressed and clomped sleepily down the stairs.

"Sleep well?" Rhodey asked, greeting him from the kitchen.

"Yeah, what time is it?"

"10:30, looks like you needed it."

"What about you?"

"I was only up a few hours before you."

"Tony?"

"Coulson's still with him. I'm just making us all breakfast. Apparently, he managed to stay awake till about 9pm before he clocked out, he's still asleep on the sofa."

"He's going to be so groggy when he wakes up."

"And hungry, which is why I'm making breakfast for us all so go sit down."

"Thanks." Bruce patted Rhodey on the back before joining Coulson and the sleeping genius in the sitting room.

Tony had been carefully propped up with pillows to make sure he didn't wake up with a crick in his neck. He was also covered in the duvet from his room which Coulson must have got for him. Bruce smiled warmly at the sight, though there was no avoiding the not unfamiliar paleness to his complexion.

"Thank you, Phil. I needed that."

"No problem, it was good to have a catch up, even if it did take forever to get him to sleep." Coulson was looking surprisingly chipper considering how long he must have been awake. Then again, Bruce supposed, he was trained for stakeouts and the like.

"Yep, it's like raising a baby… a clever devious baby that can outwit you in his sleep."

"That's quite an apt analogy."

There was as soft mumble from the sofa as Tony stirred. He shuffled uncomfortably but didn't wake up.

"So, what happened yesterday it was bad right?"

Bruce nodded, biting his teeth together at the memory.

"You know Bruce, Tony's not the only one going through this, you and Rhodes need to talk to someone too and not each other."

"You offering?"

Coulson nodded. Bruce sighed again. "I effectively watch my best friend being tortured yesterday, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it but watch. And you know the worst part… Is that he's dealing with it better than the rest of us combined. It's like he just forgets about it."

"I don't think that anyone has ever known exactly what goes on in Tony Stark's head, Bruce. And there's not much I can say to comfort either of you. This, of all the crazy I've known in this job, is well, this whole situation is unthinkable. But the way you all are handling it, Bruce you're doing everything right."

"But it doesn't make things any better for him."

"You said you were onto something though."

"It's complicated… and the more we dig into it the less it looks like solution."

"You'll figure out the pair of you. You are the best minds of our…"

Coulson was cut off as Tony's heavy breathing became audible. He was covered in a sheen of sweat, shuffling periodically.

"Is he…" Coulson started, but Bruce was already knelt by the sofa gently placing a hand on his shoulder. Bruce knew a nightmare when he saw one.

"Tony." He said softly. "Come on Tony wake up." Bruce increased the pressure through his hand and began to shake Tony gently. "Tony it's Bruce, wake… Shit!"

Bruce was thrown onto his back as Tony leapt to his feet and stumbled towards the door.

"What's going on?" Tony bumped straight into the concerned Rhodes who placed his hands firmly on Tony's arms to hold them both up.

Tony felt something grab him, restricting him and lashed out. The full force of of Tony's right hook slammed into an unprepared airman's temple. There was a thud as Rhodes was knocked to the floor and lay still.

"Tony! Snap out of it." Coulson manoeuvred himself between Tony and the door, holding out a non threatening hand. Tony stood breathing heavily, the panic in his eyes fading into confusion as he started to register the world around him.

"Coulson?"

"Yes, it's me. You're safe."

Tony huffed in frustration and reached out for something to lean on. Coulson helped him find a seat as Bruce offered a hand to Rhodey as he groaned and stirred on the floor.

"Fucking hell Tony, hit me with a truck next time."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be Tony, it's not your fault."

"Kind of is." Tony retorted.

"Rhodey, don't get up just yet, let me give you the once over." Bruce offered

"Honestly Bruce I'm fine, just get me some ice would you," He groaned rubbing his aching temple. Bruce got up hastily to oblige. "Oh, and take the pan off will you…" Rhodey called through. "Don't want the pancakes turning to ash."

"Got it." Bruce yelled back.

"You ok?" Rhodey asked Tony.

"You're asking me, you're the one I hit."

"Tony that was some pretty shit nightmare, if that's what is was."

"Yeah, you know, end of the world is kind of scary."

"I thought you weren't having those now the inhibitor was on."

"I get usually get them the night before or after a meeting, guess that's when the CAEB is able to break through a little."

"Why didn't you say something."

"They're not getting any clearer and you've got enough to worry about."

"Tony…"

"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah I'm sorry ok." Tony huffed again, regretting his tone. "I'm sorry."

"Here you go Rhodey." Bruce handed over a bag of peas which the airman gratefully accepted.

Coulson knew they needed to change the subject there was far too much awkwardness in the room.

"Rhodes that smells great, should I bring it through?"

"Might as well, before it goes cold." Coulson got up and slipped out of the room.

"I'm sorry Rhodey I'm not hungry."

"Well, you know the drill, eat if you can and we'll save it for later when you are."

"I've got to get out of here." Tony stood up and moved swiftly out of the room."

"Tony!" Bruce called

"Let him go." Rhodey said. "Jarvis will keep an eye on him."

There was the sound of the front door slamming which turned heads.

"How will he do that if he's not in the building?"

"He has his phone Doctor Banner and I can monitor him through the satellite grid." Jarvis chimed in.

Bruce nodded and Coulson popped his head back through. "Where did Tony go?"

"I don't know, but we might as well eat." Rhodey said with a grimace as he jolted his fragile head.

…..

"So, does anyone else have the feeling that bruce isn't telling us everything." Steve burst into the communal space and stood in the middle of the room. He'd been mulling things over for days now and he couldn't wiat any longer. Something needed to be done. The vibes he was feeling had only been getting worse since they'd last spoken about them. In fact, none of them had barely spoken at all since bruce had left, not because they were avoiding each other

"Yep." Clint agreed dropping the P and folding his arms behind his head.

"That's a dead-end Steve."

"What do you mean?" Clint enquired.

"So he does know something?" Steve asked

"Yes, he's not a difficult read. But whatever he knows he's got it from Tony."

"That figures." Steve's suspicions were confirmed, of course the CAEB was vibing out like the rest of them.

"Which means that he won't tell us anything without Tony's permission." Natasha explained.

"But if it was something bad surely he'd tell us right, he wouldn't keep it to himself… not if the world depended on it." Clint proposed.

"No, Tony isn't stupid. He's pissed at us but he wouldn't put other people's lives on the line." Natasha confirmed.

"Wouldn't he?"

"Seriously Steve." Clint stood up, anger in his eyes.

"I don't mean he'd do it on purpose, but think how these vibes are affecting us, we're all scared, paranoid, on edge imagine what the CAEB is feeling… how strong it must be affecting Tony. Maybe he _can't_ tell anyone."

"It is plausible. But however, much Bruce is protective over Tony, he won't put him before the entire planet. We just have to trust them."

"So maybe we are over reacting… maybe this thing we're so freaked about isn't going to be as bad as we think."

"Come on Clint, you know that's wishful thinking." Steve reasoned.

"Excuse me for trying to be the optimist here."

"Maybe Tony doesn't know much more than we do." Natasha sighed at the squabbling that was starting between the guys again. Why did she have to be the only woman? "So, he thinks there is there's no point in telling us till he knows more."

"You think that's what's happening?"

"I think it's more likely, yes Bruce knows something but whatever it is, is no breakthrough he'd have given that away."

"But any detail might be important at this stage, we have to prepare for this, imagine how much easy the incident would have been if we'd known what we were up against before-hand." The others couldn't deny some foresight would have helped, so remained silent. "Right now, all we know is something bad is going to happen and we don't even know that for sure. I mean, what are we up against here? Extinction event, another race of aliens? Anything he can tell us would help, anything at all. We have to find out he knows."

"How do you suggest we do that?" Natasha asked contemptuously.

"I don't know... yet."

"This isn't going to end well Steve." Clint said simply. "Why don't we just trust him, you know learn from _your_ mistakes?"

"I happen to know that Tony is still keeping stuff from us."

"Like what?" Clint asked genuinely intrigued.

"I…" Steve began realising what he'd just let slip… should he tell them what he'd found out, or would they just be mad at him for snooping?

"Tony Stark is keeping stuff from everyone Steve, that's who he is." Natasha stated bluntly.

"Why don't you just ring him up and ask him." Clint stated confidently.

"Oh, because you think he'd just tell me everything, all his darkest secrets, just like that?"

"Well at least try first Steve, at least give him the chance before you go behind back again."

"He has a point." Natasha reasoned.

"Ok, your right." Steve nodded. "We'll give him a few days then we'll start asking questions, if everyone agrees."

"Sounds good."

"Sounds ok." Clint said dispassionately.

….

"That wasn't as long as I expected." Rhodey chimed as he heard Tony's footsteps return 2 hours later.

"I'm sorry, but I needed that."

"Tony how many times, you don't need to apologise for anything. You haven't been outside since you got here, so I'm actually really glad you got some fresh air."

"How's your head."

"I've had worse, but you certainly know how to punch."

"Well you know, Iron man doesn't just walk by himself."

"I know, that War machine suit is hard work." Rhodey smiled. "You need to talk about anything."

"No. But maybe it's time that we tell the Avengers that there's something coming."

"They know," Bruce said entering the room.

"You told them?" Tony asked, a look of worry in his eyes.

"No Tony I didn't say anything, I promise you. We are all having a feeling, a feeling that something is bad is coming, even the Hulk is getting jumpy and that cannot be a good thing."

"A feeling?" Rhodey asked.

"Call it a bad vibe." Bruce explained.

"But I'm not feeling anything." Rhodey said "Why aren't I getting it if the rest of you are?"

"You weren't in New York, weren't around that portal. Maybe that's why?" Bruce hypothesised.

"So, everyone in New York is feeling this?"

"Maybe, I don't know, I don't know anything really Rhodes, other than it can't just be a coincidence.

"You need to be prepared, I can't just keep this to myself anymore."

"You?" Bruce asked. "You need to be prepared? Excluding yourself from that statement?"

"Yes Bruce, I am not an avenger anymore, I can't be, I'm a liability like this."

"Ok Tony, you're not, but I'm not going to argue with you."

"So, what are we going to do?" Rhodey asked.

"I'm not sure exactly, maybe we should ask Coulson. Where is he?"

"He was following me around while I was out."

"Oh you noticed." Coulson said, stepping quietly into the room.

"Call me paranoid but I always check the plates of suspicious looking black Chevys. Could SHIELD vehicles be more conspicuous."

"What would you suggest Mr. Stark?"

"A bright orange Pick up."

"A bright orange pick-up?" Bruce chuckled.

"Yeah why not? Last thing people would have expected, it's so overt it's covert."

"We might take a pass on that one."

"Anyway Phil, how much of our conversation did you hear?"

"Most of it… I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I'm a spy I can't help it."

"Any advice?"

"Well, I'm assuming keeping Tony out of this completely is the main goal."

"That would be appreciated."

"So you have the option of telling Bruce everything in detail and he reports back to the Avengers…"

"Or?" Tony asked intrigued at Coulson's pause.

"Or maybe it's time I come back from the dead."

Bruce's phone started to ring and he lazily checked the caller ID. "I better take this." HE sighed.

"Steve?"

"Yes. I'll be back in a minute."

Bruce stepped out of the room and stared at his phone for a moment debating whether to answer. He finally swiped left on the screen and took a deep breath.

"Steve?"

"Bruce. The readings are back."

"Same as before?"

"I'm afraid so. It looks like whatever this is, it isn't finished with us yet."

"Great. So you want me back again?"

"If possible, I think it's a justifiable precaution."

"Fair enough." Bruce stopped and thought for a moment. They needed to know exactly what was causing these and how to stop them, or he'd ben hopping between coasts like this, well maybe permanently and Bruce was no fan of flying. "Will you give me a couple of days, I have an idea I'd like to check out?"

"Sure, it took a while last time before anything kicked off, just don't leave it too long."

Bruce walked back into the room of querying faces.

"Ermmm… I never filled you in on why I had to go back to New York."

"I'm guessing that means you'll be leaving us again?" Rhodes asked.

"Probably yes, but look… Tony I was trying to keep you away from this. Coulson you'll probably already know…"

"Are you taking about the sky warping above New York and the three associated SHIELD files of incidences with minor portals?"

"The whaty what now?" Tony sang.

"The sky was warping?" Rhodey said slowly.

"How do you two not know?" Coulson asked. "It is all over the news."

"We've banned the news." Rhodey stated. "This is supposed to be a stress-free house."

"Which is exactly why I didn't tell you Tony, that and I don't and I know you don't want anything to do with this anymore. But I could really use an extra set of eyes to go over the data."

"Sure Bruce. Minor portals, are we taking faults caused by the initial event from the tesseract?"

"I assume so, but the data is inconclusive."

"So, we need to know what's causing them, why now and not straight after the incident, and how to close them for good or repair the damage?"

"Ideally yes."

"Sounds like a good night's work!" The genius said enthusiastically.

"Hang on Tony, normal sleeping hours still apply."

"God, I haven't had bedtime this script since I was 5."

"You only had bedtimes till you were 5?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah Howard stopped caring after that." Tony said quickly, "Have you got the readings now?"

Bruce paused for a second but decided not to probe. He knew that Tony hated his Dad, best not to add those feelings to whatever mix of emotion he was currently concocting.

"Yes, they should be on Jarvis' server, we can head down now."

"Great, no hang on… I'm hungry. Is breakfast still around or did I miss that when I stormed off."

"It's in the fridge… I'll bring it down."

"Thanks Rhodey." Tony sang, winking at his best friend.

"Yeah, Yeah go and play science, I'll just wait on you hand and foot."

"I will never understand those two." Coulson said dejectedly.

"I don't think anyone does but them, that's why they get on so well." Rhodey smiled. The ego part of him felt he should be jealous of Bruce and Tony's relationship, the part that would protect Tony with his life was hugely glad of it… as was the selfish part of him, which was relieved that he was no longer the only one who had to bear the burden that was Tony Stark.

"Don't you have some spying to do or something…" Rhodey asked then realised how rude he'd sounded. "I'm not asking you to leave, just wondering why SHIELD hasn't been wondering why their favourite agent has been missing for over a day.

"I have a few days leave, wanted to check on Tony after his impromptu visit and of course there aren't many people I can go and see on my days off, being dead and all."

"What exactly happened?"

"I don't know Rhodes. I really don't know." Rhodey frowned at that, but decided not to probe any further. "Anyway, don't you have food to prepare Chef Rhodes."

"I suppose I do. "Rhodey rolled his eyes and got to work.

…

 **Ok so I stole the it's so overt its covert line from Sherlock Holmes a game of shadows, couldn't resist so all credit where its due.**

 **Typing some of this in the car on the way back to uni, so apologies if there are more typos than normal. Proof reading in a vehicle only ends in you feeling sick!**


	24. Chapter 24 - Back in the game

**This chapter I couldn't bear to split, but it was going to be 30,000 words otherwise! Hence why it's taken a little longer to write.**

 **Wow. When you're writing something this long, every now and again you have to pop back a few chapters to check for continuity and remind yourself if it's been a while, but I started reading this from the beginning again as a typo check and to put in some small improvements. God, I miss the happy times and fluff in the first few chapters! Hopefully the guys can get back there… or have they been through too much.**

 **Chapter 24 – Back in the game**

Tony rolled out from underneath the car noticing one of the wheels on the creeper rattle. He sighed as he gently got to his feet. That had been a frustratingly easy fix, Bruce would happy but Tony was disappointed. He'd really wanted something to sink his teeth into. Standing on the creeper he rode it to his desk like a skateboard and sat it upside down on his knee while he diagnosed it. Two of the wheels needed new bearings. It would probably have been easier to replace the wheels, but he was bored so he removed the offending articles and pushed the creeper out into the middle of the floor.

20 minutes later his phone buzzed and his hand snapped to it. It was Rhodey, giving him the half hour warning that he'd be dragging his ass out of there for a break unless he came willingly. Tony sighed, he couldn't find anything to keep him occupied anyway, his project list was empty apart from the stuff he'd been deliberately putting off… the mundane tasks and he sure as hell wasn't going to touch those with a barge pole.

He stood up, phone in hand tapping at the keyboard, shooting back a message to say he was on his way. He turned around to check he hadn't left the soldering iron on from earlier, still soft stepping backwards towards the door when his foot hit something and went shooting forward. Tony's found himself falling backwards as he stepped on the creeper and it rolled violently away from him. Phone flying up in the air Tony instinctively wrapped his arms across himself and tucked his chin into his chest to minimise the injury as he waited for the floor to rise-up and meet him.

But it never did.

Tony opened his eyes and looked around cautiously there was a faint glow of blue underneath him as he realised he was being held in mid-air two feet above the floor. Okay, this was new. How the hell was the CAEB getting through the inhibitor? He could feel its power coursing through him and it felt wrong. More wrong than it had before. He hissed a little as the back of his neck started to prickle and burn. So how did he get down from here without landing on his ass?

He carefully tried to sit up and as soon as his head reached vertical he dropped like a stone, landing with a grunt as pain shot through his now bruised coccyx. Rubbing his tail bone, he twisted round and stopped dead. Right behind him was his toolbox. Judging by where he'd landed, if he'd been allowed to finish his fall the screwdriver would have stabbed right into the back of his neck. It would have almost certainly killed him.

He got to his feet shakily, heart rate throbbing in his chest. Had the CAEB just saved him? He tapped the inhibitor uncertainly, it was red hot to the touch and he winced at the burning on his neck.

"Jarvis. Get me stats, has it failed?" He shouted panic rising in his throat.

"There was a power surge from the CAEB's nervous system far beyond anything we have yet encountered. The inhibitor was unable to contain the surge but is fully functional. All readings have returned to normal, but I would suggest cooling the device down immediately as it has overheated."

"No kidding." Tony strode over to the freezer and pressed an ice pack to the back of his neck, shivering as it touched his skin. He scooped the phone off the concrete, pleased to see that the screen wasn't cracked. Guess he could skip that stage of the testing for the new devices. He finished off the message saying he'd be up in 15 minutes and pressed send. He should probably go get something with a collar to cover the bright red mark on the back of his neck, he'd call Bruce later, when he wasn't so busy in New York, but the inhibitor was going to need some serious tweaking.

Suddenly Tony gasped as a jolt of blinding pain shot through his skull. He crashed to his knees as his vision went blurry and every nerve in his body twitched like it was on fire. Tony screamed as his insides seared.

"Jarvis, what the hell!"

"The CAEB nervous system has been damaged as a result of overcoming the inhibitor, it appears to be healing but the process is…"

Another cry escaped Tony's lips silencing the AI.

"Sir, I'm calling…"

"Will it fix itself?"

"Yes Sir."

"Then keep your mouth shut."

Oh, so slowly the pain started to subside, until he was just left with a bitter taste and a raging migraine. He picked himself up off the floor and here was a text waiting. 'You're late.' He rubbed his temples, biting hard against the ache in his skull and made his way to the door.

"Jarvis, I want to see that data, send it to my phone." Tony spoke quietly,

"As you wish."

….

 _5 hours later._

"Steve, we are getting blown to shit down here." Natasha yelled over the roar of the small fighter's engines.  
Natasha was right. Three Avengers could not hold off an aerial attack, especially when two of them were only human; two of the most skilled and lethal humans on the planet, Steve reminded himself, but still just human. Not supercharged, not a demigod and certainly not wearing any armour.

It had been just over a week. One week since they had been certain it had all been over, but of course life could never be that simple. Bruce had set off 12 hours after they'd called him and 5 hours after that a shower of lasers was raining down on them from above.

"I can't cover you from up here anymore." Clint yelled over the comms. "There are too many of them and I'm running out of arrows." There was the sound of explosions nearby in the background which made the others jump.

"Ok Clint." Steve acknowledged. "Bruce standby, I think we're going to need some help from the other guy."

"Understood Steve." Bruce said, sighing a little. He was hardly keen on changing shades today. "Clint, I'm sending in a drone with more arrows. But there's only 50… I've got more on the way but they'll be a while."

"Thanks Bruce. Guys if you see any on the ground pick 'em up will you."

"Sure Clint, we'll pick up after you." Natasha teased.

"How many we got left Bruce?"

They'd had plenty of warning that another portal was about to open, but no way of pinpointing where it would be. They'd hadn't made it to the Bronx before in time and had arrived to the hail of lasers from the alien incursion and being thrown straight into action. The SHIELD agents had managed to contain the portal on east 230th, nothing else was coming through. But that still left them with clean up; and there were still civilians to evacuate… too many.

"They're fast, it's hard to get a read, but I think we're down to 58."

"Any heading out of the area?" Steve had his hand pressed to ear squinting up at the sky, trying to follow as many as he could in his line of sight.

The area was residential, mostly low-rise buildings with wide streets and far too many schools in the immediate area. Clint had managed to find himself a high vantage point atop a 20-storey tower block a mile or so to the east.

"No, they are focused on you for now. Clint, keep shooting at them like you are and hopefully that'll be enough to keep them away from civilians."

"How can I do that when I have about 12 arrows left!"

"Arrow drop is in less than a minute." Bruce confirmed.

"Just do your best."

Clint fired another arrow in response. It flew with the usual flawless precision, but unfortunately the enemy, unlike the arrow, could curve in mid-air.

These craft were so agile, so fast that they were proving impossible to hit. They were able to turn on a dime, quite literally. The technology was incredible, but the crafts themselves were a thing of beauty. They were small, maybe just under 5ft long and barely 3ft tall; but the shaping was unbelievable. They were streaks of silver plating, cutting through the air like a knife. The light seemed to bend around them; from the side it was hard to catch a glimpse, but head on they were damn near invisible. Their best way of tracking them was by sound; their jets were immensely powerful and also incredibly loud, roaring and vibrating the air around them. You couldn't just hear them coming, you could feel them.

"I thought you were supposed to be good at this Barton?" Bruce said playfully.

"They are so frickin fast, why do you think I've nearly run out of arrows?" Clint said exhaustedly. The exploding arrows worked well when he could hit the damn things, but he had barely any left. His only shot with the standard arrows was a 3-inch air intake. He usually wouldn't break a sweat over that, but in this case, the shot was nigh on impossible.

"We need to figure out another way to take these things out." Natasha said what everyone was thinking. "Bruce have you got anything?"

"I'm taking apart one of the one's you brought down, but this really isn't my field…"

"Steve get down!" Clint yelled as a small fighter dove towards Steve's position and a storm of laser blasts tore up the ground heading straight for him. Steve could hear it, but could barely see it. He turned and ran, sprinting away from the roar that was baring down on him. He rushed through the cloud of dust as the ground splintered around him and the heat prickled at his neck. He saw an opening and went for it. As he dived the concrete he'd been stood on exploded and threw him into the air. He slammed into the doorway he'd been hoping to gain shelter from, rebounding off the hard structure and spiralling out of sight.

"Steve!" Clint yelled.

"Steve." Natasha said calmly. "Steve are you there?"

A cough came over the comms. "I'm fine." There was a loud explosion overhead and a whoop over the comms as Clint took out the fighter with an exploding arrow.

"57 to go." Clint said triumphantly.

"Guy's, we need to get in air support, if they stop focusing on us and start targeting civilians we cannot stop them." Bruce warned.

"Call Fury, scramble another Quinjet." Steve barked.

"They're too big Steve, the fighters ran circles around them." Clint protested. "There's no point getting more agents killed for nothing more than a distraction."

"Then what do you suggest?" Steve asked, trying to hide the pain in his voice as he winced and held his injured side.

"Something small, fast and agile. Something that can keep pace with these ass holes, with a killer artillery…" Clint began.

"A snide tongue and the occasional good idea." Natasha added

"No!" Bruce snapped.

"Bruce, why?"

"Tony won't come." Bruce said instantly. "Not today."

"Bruce, Natasha's right we need him." Steve said. "Is there any chance you could convince him."

"No Steve, I won't even make the call."

"Bruce…"

"Why can't he come?" Clint asked perplexed.

"If you want to try Steve, you're more than welcome to." Bruce growled. "But I would not recommend you do that."

Steve paused for a moment, certain he could hear more of the hulk than Bruce in those words. But they only had one option. "Patch me through."

….

Pepper was busy working when she heard Tony's phone vibrate, she looked around, he'd wandered off a little while ago and she still couldn't see any sign of him. She picked it up anyway without looking.

"Pepper Potts." She was met by the sound of explosions which made her drop her paperwork. "What the hell is going on?"

"Pepper? It's Steve, I really need to talk to Tony."

Pepper's face darkened. The nerve of this guy. To be calling Tony, asking for help, after everything that had happened. She wanted to scream down the phone, but, as always, she held her composure.

Pepper straightened up and took a measured breath. "Captain Rogers, Tony isn't on call when you need him. He's not part of your team and he no longer answers to you." Pepper's tone was ice cold and it sent a shiver down Steve's spine, to hear Pepper address him so formally was like a shot to the gut.

"I know Pepper," He said solemnly. "I wouldn't call unless I really, really needed to."

"The answer is no Steve."

"Pepper, why? People are dying."

"He can't he has a meeting." She said casually. The lack of any emotion in her voice was incredibly disconcerting.

"A meeting?" Steve said, taken aback. Firstly, since when did Tony go to meetings and what in hell type of excuse was that. "Pepper lives are at stake, please just let me talk to him."

"I'm sorry Captain Rogers. You'll have to find someone else." Her tone however said that she was not sorry in the slightest.

Steve felt a hand on his shoulder shove him out of the way of another blast, the flash of red hair matching the lasers that had seconds earlier had been trained on him. Steve was desperate now. If he was honest with himself he was in no fit state to be fighting, he was still very dazed and quite frankly becoming a liability. He picked himself up off the hard ground, uniform covered in brick dust and offered a weak smile to Natasha as a thank you.

Natasha nodded at him, asking how it was going. He sighed and shook his head.

"What about Rhodes?" Natasha asked, standing close to Steve so Pepper could hear her.

"Is War machine free for a fight?" Steve asked.

"No."

"Pepper, we're desperate…"

"Pep, why are you on my phone?" Steve heard Tony's voice at the other end of the phone and the breath catch in Pepper's throat. Pepper quickly covered the microphone of the cell and was about to pass it off with a smile when she noticed the look of realisation on Tony's face. He'd figured it out. Her eyes had given it away.

"Put me on." Tony's face was expressionless, his eyes empty. Pepper instinctively drew the phone closer to her body.

"I don't think that's a good idea." She said hesitantly.

"Give." Tony held out an outstretched palm, expectantly and reluctantly Pepper obliged.

Tony pressed the phone to his ear and turned away.

"What do you want."

Steve's stomach leapt at hearing Tony's voice again. He realised how long it had been, and unusually he didn't sound pissed. In fact, he didn't sound, anything.

"I'm sorry Tony, we need you, we need Iron man, we have a situation."

"Where?"

"New York, the Bronx."

"What are you dealing with."

"Small aircraft, incredibly agile, we have contained the portal but we have now way of stopping them and the evacuation is taking too long."

"Stark!" Steve heard a muffled voice came through the line and it seemed all too familiar, but he just couldn't place it.

"Hang on a second." Tony covered the mouth piece of the phone as Coulson approached him.

"Stark, give me the phone and I'll sort this."

"Coulson, they think you're dead."

"Tony, just give me the phone."

"No, I'll handle this."

"Stark."

"Coulson, we don't have time to explain you're alive and all the rest, they are trying to fight flying alien craft. I will sort it." Tony raised the phone back to his ear, on the other end of the line Steve frowned at the sound of raised voices, what the hell was going on? "Sorry go on."

"Tony, I wouldn't have called if we didn't absolutely need you. So, please, just suit up and get over here."

Tony was silent for a moment, considering his options. "I'm sorry Steve, I can't."

"What? Because of a meeting?"

"It's really none of your business."

"Tony I'm sure that whatever you have is important, but people could die here, people have died… just put history aside and come help us save these people."

"People could die if I don't go to this meeting."

Steve was confused, was Tony just making stuff up?

Tony gripped the bridge of his nose hard. "Jarvis, cancel the meeting and get out the mark 45."

"Tony!" Pepper yelled, both surprise and horror infecting her tone.

"Sir, I would like to remind you…"

"Not now Jarvis!" Tony practically growled, which caused Pepper to take a step back. "I'll be with you in under an hour." Tony hung up and immediately his phone was ringing. It was Bruce. Tony ignored it.

"Tony what are you doing…" Pepper yelled. "The… 'meeting,'" she hissed the word and stomped towards him in her heels, "is in less than 16 hours."

"Exactly, that should be plenty of time." Tony said flippantly.

"But you know that stress accelerates it." Pepper pleaded. She was so glad that he had told her what was going on. She had known something was wrong of course, and she hadn't pushed, she knew where that got them. And although he hadn't let her be there she knew how bad it was from the way Rhodey and Bruce looked at him when they thought he couldn't see them. Glances from across the room, staring at the back of his head or while he was dozing on the sofa, they were all waiting for him to drop, for something to happen.

"It'll be fine Pepper, I'll practice my meditation on the flight over."

"Tony this isn't a time for jokes, think about this."

"Pepper, people are dying."

"Stark, I would really advise against this." Coulson added.

"Tony what the hell are you thinking! Jarvis told me." Rhodey appeared, clearly enraged.

"Look, you are not going to stop me so just coordinate with the people at Stark tower to set something up in case I can't get back in time, would you?"

"Fine, but I'm suiting up too."

"Sorry Buddy you can't, I need the war machine reactor, I'll drain the power flying there at Mach 5."

"Tony!"

"Bye, see you later."

"Stark, at least let me fly you over there. The bus can be ready in 15minutes."

"It's too slow Coulson, I'll be half way there by the time you leave the ground." Tony stormed towards the steps brushing off a frantic Colonel.

"No, No, No. Don't you dare!"

"Just give over Rhodey."

"Tony, next meeting aside, take a look in the mirror. You are still exhausted from the last one. You're grey Tony, you look like a walking corpse. You can't stay awake for more than a few hours and you struggle getting up the stairs… How on earth are you supposed to go into battle?"

"Caffeine."

"Tony can you be serious for one minute?"

"I'm being perfectly serious. I look worse than this when I haven't had my morning coffee."

"For God's sake Tony!"

"You know I have to do this Rhodey, so why are you fighting it. The longer I stand here fighting with you the more people die."

"Tony, you don't _have_ to do anything. You always feel like it's your responsibility and it's not, you don't owe them anything, you don't owe anyone anything, in fact the whole damn planet owes _you_."

"And I'm not _your_ responsibility Rhodes, so why don't you leave off."

"You are my responsibility Tony and quite frankly I don't care about anyone else right now, All I care about is making sure that you are safe, that you are ok and damn everybody else."

"I'm touched Rhodey, really, I am. But you can't seriously be putting me before an entire city."

"Yes, I can."

"You're in the fucking military Rhodes, your responsibility is to every citizen of this country not just one, certainly not when that one is a jackass like me."

"Screw it all Tony, you are not going out there, because I know your luck… This thing will come early, it will catch you by surprise and you will be stranded in a fight with nobody to watch your back. If the meeting doesn't kill you, you will be helpless and whatever these things that you are going to fight are, they are not going to hesitate to kill you while you are writhing on the floor."

Tony took a deep breath. The last thing he wanted right now was to be fighting with his best friend. He knew how Rhodey was feeling and Tony was more than aware of what he was walking into. He very well might not be walking out of that again, but he was Tony Stark and he'd planned for all of that.

"Look, Rhodes, Bruce is there, I have set up back up plan after back-up plan. It's going to be fine and I'm sorry but you are not going to stop me."

"Ok Tony. Fine. Do what you want, but I don't have to like it."

"Of course, you don't. I don't like it Rhodey. And I wouldn't be doing this unless I absolutely had to."

"Ok," Rhodey sighed defeatedly, "Go. But you call me as soon as its done and you get your ass back here. And if I call you, you better pick up your damn phone."

"Yes Sir."

"Don't piss me about Tony. Just be careful please."

"I will Rhodey, I better go."

…

"Tony are you mad!"

"Jarvis, why can I hear Bruce when I told you not to pick up!"

"I'm afraid Sir, Dr. Banner has found a way to bypass my communications security."

"Stuff that, I know you're mad, what I didn't realise was that you are completely and utterly insane."

"Bruce that is the last time I let you 'have a look' at Jarvis' coding."

"Tony the reason I built a back door was if you couldn't pick up the phone because you were at a meeting and you needed us we could get hold of you."

"Fair enough, but my statement still stands."

"Tony, I'm not calling to convince you to turn around, God knows that's pointless, but I needed to let you know I've been called in. I can't help you if something goes wrong. Just please, don't put yourself into any…"

"Unnecessarily stressful situations. I'll do my best Bruce."

"If you need me, find the Hulk, please…"

"Sure thing, I've got the countdown on the screen I'll be watching the time."

"Thank you. See you in New York." Bruce rang off.

"Jarvis, you fly, I'll try sleep till we get there."

"As you wish, I will wake you when we approach New York."

….

Tony didn't sleep well, but thankfully 20 minutes after he'd slipped into oblivion Jarvis woke him. He could see the smoke rising in small plumes across the north of the city, it didn't look good.

"Ok Jarvis patch me into the com link." Tony's eyes flicked to the countdown. He lost a bit of time, but 10 minutes in an hour, wasn't much to worry about. 14 hours 48minutes till crunch time.

As he approached the fight zone his display started flashing red. "Sir something is coming in fast."

Tony looked ahead, the targeting system was outlining something small, but he couldn't see it.

"What the…" proximity alarms started blaring as he hovered in mid-air trying to see the thing he was fighting. He could feel his heart rate pounding in his chest, what was coming at him? Was something wrong? Why couldn't he see it? He focused on the display and the target lit up in red as he got closer. He killed the repulsors, dropping at the last second. He felt something roar through the air above him and then he saw it. A flash of silver, a craft so sleek it was nearly invisible. But as quickly as he'd averted the danger the thing was back on his tail.

"Jesus, they weren't kidding about it being agile." Tony didn't hesitate. He had a feeling that this was going to be fun, it had been a while since he'd flown and as laser blasts shot through the air around him he had to use every trick in the book to dodge these incredible machines.

Tony fired a repulsor blast as soon as he got them on the backfoot, but it seemed to bounce off the supremely smooth shell. Hell, he was desperate to get his hands on one of these when they were done blowing them to shit.

"Jarvis, how do we level these things?"  
"The craft will disintegrate with a relatively small explosive charge, the air intakes are also a point of weakness." The graphic highlighted the location to Tony and showed him the best places to lay the charges.

"Sir I would suggest terminating this chase as soon as possible."  
Tony knew that was the sensible, thing, but well, he was having fun. It was the first time he'd found something that could really match the suits agility. Match, but not exceed. He wanted to see what they could do.

A sonic boom was heard over the island and the Avengers looked up to see a streak of red and gold. The first boom was quickly followed by a second as a silver blur careered across the sky.

"I guess Stark is here then?" Natasha said with a raised eyebrow.

Steve nodded thoughtfully, pulling out his Stark phone and checking the screen nervously for a moment before sliding in back into a pocket.

Tony meanwhile, wasn't enjoying himself so much anymore. Ok, so it could nearly match his speed on open ground, in fact, it was starting to gain on him which was more than a little disconcerting, so Tony changed his tact. He went shooting upwards.

"What is he doing, why doesn't he just blow it up?" Clint asked incredulously as he fired again and missed, swearing as the craft dodged again.

"I'm finding out what it is capable of bird brain. It's called tactics, and one of you ass clowns could have let me know these things and damn near invisible."

"Sorry Stark, I might have been able to brief you if you hadn't hung up." Steve said monotone. "Now could you please come down from there and blow these things to kingdom come."

The sky was beginning to grow dark at the edges but still the craft followed. Ok, so that wasn't working either. These things were good. But they weren't very bomb proof. Tony fired and the explosive charges stuck, obliterating the craft in a ball of flame. Brilliant, designed to evade rather than withstand. To be honest, he wasn't sure these craft were meant for a fight at all. The weaponry looked like it had been recently added, it wasn't quite innkeeping with the design.

Regardless these things weren't going to be easy to pin down if they didn't want to be.

"Ok how many have we got." Tony got straight to business.

"Around 45 remaining If Clint's countdown is accurate."

"45? What is the Hulk playing at he should have smashed these by now?" Tony asked, with raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, well, he like the rest of us is finding it hard to catch the damn things."

"I bet that's pissed him off." As if in answer the roar of the hulk echoed over the streets deafeningly, seeming to shake the very ground.

Tony glanced up at the countdown again. Shit. 4 hours 15minutes. "Jarvis, check that countdown, I think you forgot the 1 before the 4."

"I'm sorry sir, the display is correct. There was a steep acceleration but the display should have recalibrated."

"So those 4 hours should be 4 hours and not another random acceleration?"

"Hopefully."

Hopefully. Tony gulped. Well that was comforting. What had caused the jump? He'd just lost 10 hours in about 20 minutes of combat. He took a deep breath. There was no point worrying about something he couldn't control, it would only make that thing tick faster. "Shut up you idiot!" He yelled at himself and snapped out of it. He'd just have to get this done fast.

Tony got to work, and soon most of the fire was being drawn to him rather than to the rather battered Avengers on the ground… and the one on a roof. They were going down fairly easily at least, but he only had a limited number of these charges to fire. He'd have to get more creative otherwise he was going to run out of ammo.

As he scooted around a building with three craft on his tail he spotted the Hulk shooting between two buildings, trying but failing to grab another craft that was circling and firing at him, causing no damage other than to piss off the Hulk further. That gave him an idea.

"Hulk Buddy, why don't you just go hide around the corner and I'll bring you some toys to smash."

"Hulk don't hide, Hulk fight!"

"Urgghh jees." Tony grunted. "That's not what I meant Buddy. Not hide, just go stealthy so, you know, you can smash!"

"Hulk smash!" was the response as big green disappeared.

"That's the spirit."

Their little plan worked for a while, allowing them to whittle the field down to the final 15 but they wised up, much to Tony's annoyance and stopped following. Instead they returned their focus to the guys on the ground.

"Ok, back to freestyling it Big guy. Guys watch your 6, you've got incoming."

Steve looked back and groaned as he saw three fighters heading for his position. Shield in hand he leapt into the air as a craft brushed under him. His feet had just touched the ground again when it was torn away from him. A laser blast hit him square in the chest, sending a searing pain through him as he smashed into the wall of a building. He curled up behind his shield as the laser blasts bombarded him, the smell of his own seared flesh met his nostrils and he could feel the concrete wall cracking behind him, getting ready to give way.

As the sound of explosions met his ears finally the bombardment stopped, or more accurately changed its focus. Steve tried to stand, bleary eyed he could see Natasha running through the street, dodging the hail of red light that was tearing up the ground around her.

"Natasha!" Steve yelled, he began to run towards the danger but he stumbled over the rubble under his feet. This wasn't good, this really wasn't good.

Thankfully something big and green flew into view and ripped Natasha out of harm's way. Steve let out a sigh of relief as he leant against the building he'd just left a huge dent in and tried to get his breath. His ribs shifted painfully when he breathed and he could hear them rattle under his skin. Thankfully adrenaline was killing the pain, but he knew those burns were going to take more than a good night's sleep to heal.

Tony was frantically covering the two on the ground, but these things were learning… they were getting better at dodging his hits. Clint's arrows were now missing even more often and no one felt like jibing at him for it. The Hulk kept leaping in the air like a child trying to catch butterflies and with each failed attempt he got madder and madder.

Tony heard them too late. With his focus elsewhere, he hadn't noticed the other fighters gather behind him.

"Sir!"

"How many?"

"12." Tony streaked through the streets, but he couldn't shake them and he couldn't outwit them either. Unlike those Chitauri idiots he couldn't get them to make a mistake, even if they did, they were just too good to crash. There wasn't so much as a scratch on their perfect silver paintwork, whereas Tony, was hanging on by the skin of his teeth. He felt the strong prickle of heat as a laser blast skimmed his armour. He tried to dodge the next three incoming blasts, but he felt slow, fuzzy and he couldn't make his ears stop ringing. Oh great. Three blasts of burning light scorched into his side and he suddenly had no control. He was sent spiralling, twisting in the air flashes of sky and concrete merging into one as the rush of air filled his ringing ears.

He smashed into the fourth storey of a warehouse and spiralled downwards, slamming through each floor until he hit concrete at the bottom. He felt a sickening crack as he landed and it wasn't the concrete crushing on impact.

"Fuck!" Tony yelled out in pain as his armour burned hot where the blast has hit him and a blinding pain seared through his chest as he breathed. He took a moment to calm down and the pain became clearer to him. There was a strong stabbing in his shoulder and the whole of his left arm was numb and tingling.

"Great! Just fucking great." At least the sounds of the fighters outside were gone. The last thing he needed right now was to have to laser blasts raining down on him.

"Tony, where you at?" Clint came through on the comms. He'd seen the fighters gather on Tony's tail and then disperse, but he hadn't seen Tony.

"Fine feather's, just fine. But I'm going to ned a minute."

"Stark?" Steve asked not quite believing.

"Sir, it would appear you have minor burns, concussion, three broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder..."

"Yeah thanks Jarvis, tell me something I don't know." Hissing with annoyance.

"The effect of this trauma has accelerated the meeting schedule considerably. You have 4 minutes."

Tony's heart missed a step. "You are kidding, right?"

"You did not program me to 'kid', Sir."

"Fuck." This was worst case scenario. Bruce was hulked out, he was in the middle of a fight and lives were at stake. This could not be about to happen right now. He knew he had to move fast, get somewhere safer.

"Sir I would not advise moving."

"Yeah that's good advice." Tony groaned as he let himself flop back onto his back. There was a heavy weight crushing his legs where he'd brought down the ceiling with him. "Is the stuff at the tower set up?"

"Stark!" Steve came through again when he received no response.

"Yes, but there is not enough time to get there and the suit is running low on power, I recommend we evoke the emergency protocol."

"Damage limitation." Tony hissed. "Can it take the blast of the merge?"

"The damage to the suit is extensive, it will only be able to absorb 23% of the energy pulse."

"So how much damage will it cause to the surrounding area."

"The EMP radius will be approximately 0.6 miles and the structural damage to this building will be potentially catastrophic."

"So basically, I'm probably going to bring this building down of top of me."

"Tony where the hell are you?" The crackle of the coms just made the panic rise higher in his chest. He could feel it starting, feel the pain rising and he was on his own. The other's, people he'd used to call his friends, people that deep down he still thought of as family, were in trouble and he couldn't help them.

"Sir, please try to remain calm."

"Bit busy right now Steve." Tony sneered.

"We're getting killed down here, can have some air cover?" He could hear the desperation in his voice and it just added to the burning in his stomach.

"Not right now!" Tony knew that wasn't going to be enough for Steve and he needed to get them off his back for the next half hour. "I might have a plan, so just give me some time." Tony lied through his teeth.

"Ok, just please finish this thing." Steve said hesitantly.

Tony didn't reply, he just silently set the comms onto mute from his end. They didn't need to hear the screaming that would be coming very soon.

"Can you try get in contact with the Hulk? Bruce would be kind helpful right now."

"I have been trying to get through to Doctor Banner, but so far I've had little success. Do I have permission to evoke CAEB protocol 15?"

"How long?" Tony didn't really need to ask, he could feel the searing in the back of his skull, every nerve was stinging. This one was going to be the worse one yet. And he was alone. He stared up into the warehouse, it had clearly been abandoned for some time. He was lying in a pile of rubble and filth, the only light streamed in from the hole he had crashed through. And he was terrified. Already the burning inside him wanted to make him tear at his own flesh.

"2 minutes."

"Ok, lock down the suit and put up the shielding with 15 seconds to go." Tony had of course prepared for every eventuality, though he hadn't been expecting to don the iron man armour so soon. The suits robotics would lock and act as a restraint. He wouldn't be able to move. It was crude but hopefully effective, if the suit had full power it would have been able to create a field strong enough to contain most of the blast from the merge, but even on his second core, his power was incredibly low. The holographic screen flashed red in the corner indicating 16% power. When this was over the suit would be near drained. He wouldn't be able to fly and he sure as hell wouldn't be able to fight, knowing the state he'd be in when this was all over.

He was screwed and the others were screwed if he couldn't help them.

He could never have expected the schedule to accelerate that fast in the late stages. He had a feeling he was going to pay for his decision and this uncharacteristic miscalculation. Regardless there was nothing he could do about it now, that was a problem for another time.

The pain had already reached a higher level than it had last time. The countdown hadn't even hit zero when Tony started screaming.

…

"Hey Hulk what you doing?" Steve asked as the green streak flashed across the street, seemingly ignoring the 'annoying buzzy things' and peering into each building he past.

"Where is tin man!"

"He's busy, trying to find a way to stop these things."

"Where?" Hulk roared. Some laser blasts hit him on the shoulder and he didn't so much as flinch. Nor did he react. Steve took a step back.

"I don't know big guy, he didn't say."

"Must find Tin Man!" Hulk roared and stomped off.

"Hey, wait!"

"Steve what's going on?" Natasha yelled.

"Well, looks like we're down to three."

"What the hell, where is Hulk?" Clint yelled, explosions crackling through the coms.

"He's gone AWOL…"

"What wait, are people in danger?"

"No, no it's… he's trying to find Tony, he's completely focused on it he doesn't even care about the fight."

"What the hell is going on."

"How long since anyone heard from Stark?"

"45 minutes, maybe more?"

"I don't know how much longer I can hold this position." Clint yelled, genuine despair in his voice.

"This is crazy."

"Stark, talk to us how far off are you?" There was no answer. "Stark, talk to us…. Stark!"

"For Crying out loud, where the hell is he?

"Hang on, where the hell are the fighter's going?" Clint, looked in horror as the remaining dozen or so fighters, that until now had been solely focused on them started to dissipate.

"No, No, No, they're moving out, they're going to start targeting civilians." Steve began running down the street after the retreating vehicles.

"Guy's wait, they're not… they're targeting one building and it was evacuated hours ago." Clint said, observing from his superior vantage point and peering across the smoke hazed streets.

"Clint what's happening." He saw the blast begin, the shockwave travelling from the warehouse the fighters were surrounding.

"Everyone get down!"

"What!"

"Get down now!"

The ground rumbled and a blast knocked Steve and Natasha clean off their feet. Clint ran across the roof and hurled himself behind the air-conditioning unit. He felt the quiver dig into his back as he landed and everything went black.

…

When Steve came around his ears were ringing, but when he thought about it they had been before he'd been knocked on his ass. He hoped to God this had been Stark's plan. He struggled to his feet and looked around, expecting carnage, but apart from sparking electrics everything looked pretty much like it had before. Except, the skies were empty, just as they should be.

"Everyone Ok?" Steve asked, pressing his finger to the earpiece and it squealed painfully with feedback. "Yikes." He cried, ripping it from his ear hastily.

"Steve, you ok?" He looked around to see Natasha limping towards him from across the street. There was a deep cut on her forehead that was bleeding profusely. The side of her face was stained with it. Her uniform was tattered and scolded, any bare piece of skin was littered with abrasions. She was a mess.

"Not too bad, You?"

"How do I look?" Natasha said, chuckling.

"Like you need to see medical."

Natasha glanced Steve over. He was remarkably pale, his blond hair stained with a crust of red at the base of his skull. The centre of his uniform was a torn and bloody mess of scolded flesh and she could see the pain and tiredness in his eyes. "Yeah, well right back at you." She sighed.

"Are your coms working?"

"No, it was an EMP, its wiped everything out."

"Guy's!" A call echoed from on top the adjacent building. "You all ok!" The small figure of Barton could be seen waving from the roof. Even from a distance he didn't look too good himself. Natasha put her thumb up in response, knowing that Clint could see the gesture.

"What about the Hulk? Haven't seen him in a while, you don't think…"

"Steve he's indestructible, virtually… but we should find him, be nice to have Bruce back." Natasha looked around and noticed a figure stood behind them.

"Hulk here." The Big guy said with a huff. Steve took a step back, The Hulk couldn't half walk quietly when he wanted to.

"So, I'm, guessing this was Tony's plan?" Steve asked, hoping someone would have more of a clue than he did. There was a rumble a few streets over as the warehouse at the epicentre of the explosion folded in on itself, sending a slow rolling plume of dust between the buildings.

"Can't find tin man."

"Relax big guy, he'll be here in a minute." Natasha soothed.

…..

Tony crawled out onto the street. He wasn't sure how he'd managed it. He wasn't even sure it was the street, but it seemed brighter than it had been when he'd woken up. Everything was blurry, his head pounded and he couldn't string his thoughts together at all. It was only a matter of moments later that he heard the concrete structure of the warehouse. He was pinned to the ground while the wave of air rushed over him.

"J, you there?" There was an electronic crackle which Tony nearly missed underneath the fit of painful coughs that wracked his screaming chest.

"S... Sir... Yes…" Tony breathed a sigh of relief as Jarvis began to fix himself.

"Is everyone ok." Tony wheezed.

"Yes Sir, no fatalities. And I have fixed the Communications line between the Avengers."

Tony sighed. They couldn't find him like this, but every fibre of his being hurt. He couldn't feel his legs and if he was honest he was far from fully conscious.

"Stark, talk to us. Where are you." Natasha's voice came through, echoing due to the crack in his helmet and making his head spin even more.

"Please tell you weren't in that building." Clint demanded.

"I was, but I got out in time." Tony did his best to keep his voice level. "Did I get them all?"

Natasha cocked her head slightly, there was something wrong, something about Tony's voice wasn't quite right. She wasn't sure what but it made her stomach knot.

"Yep, Buddy, that was one hell of a strike. You ok?"

"Fine."

Stark was lying. Natasha was certain.

"Stark, where are you?" Natasha's concern twigged Tony that she was on to him. Of course, she was.

"I'll come to you guys." Tony gave a small and token groan, there was after all no point in pretending he wasn't at least a bit bashed up.

"Sir I would not recommend moving." The British accent was slightly garbled as the suit sparked and fizzed a little with the damage

"You control the suit then, get me walking. Even out my voice too, I want to appear normal."

"Sir…"

"J, I just want to convince them for long enough that everything is fine so I can get home and pass out, ok?"

"As you wish. But we are on emergency back-up power."

"Ok, get a car here asap."

As the suit moved gracefully Tony was reminded of the injuries he'd sustained before the meeting. He yelled out as the suit moved his dislocated shoulder and the suit immediately stopped.

"Ok J, take it easy on the shoulder."

One arm shut down to prevent further damage and the suit continued on.

….

The familiar mechanical whir that accompanied a rather mangled red and gold suit was a welcome sight for the four pairs of eyes who had been stood waiting. Natasha had just handed Bruce a coat, all he was capable of at this point was curling up in the rubble on the floor, though his eyes were fixed on Tony with great concern. The hulk had been way angrier than he had in a long time and Bruce was all but drained. He was going to need a minute.

"Clint where are you going?" Clint seemed to be the least bashed up of the lot of them, a few scuffs and scrapes and he wasn't quite standing up straight. But any pain he was in was overshadowed at his joy at seeing Tony.

"Dropped my quiver on the roof, don't leave without saying bye." Clint pointed at Tony as he trotted off in the opposite direction.

"So, am I done clearing up your mess now?" Tony said tiredly, it was a lazy thing to say, he hadn't meant it to cause offence but it ticked something inside Steve's head that flickered a spark of annoyance.

"We're going to want you at the debrief Stark."

"Forget it." The suit shook its head, but Tony was limp inside. It felt weird, he was surprised he was still standing, even with the suit. He could taste the blood pouring down his face, he was guessing from another nose bleed. Every second was a fight for consciousness and with every passing moment the wave of pain and nausea grew further past the point of unbearable.

"Stark…"

"I ain't in your boy band anymore Steve, you can't make me do anything." There was no passion in his voice, which only made Natasha's concern bite deeper.

"Avenger or not it makes no difference…

"Steve, maybe just leave it." She reasoned.

"You know what Steve, if I threw a stick would you go away?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Steve snapped around, hands on hips.

"I'd have thought that was fairly obvious."

"It's a good job you aren't still an Avenger Stark, because that stunt you pulled, disappearing mid fight and leaving us in the kill box, was a whole new level of stupid."

"Yeah well, I saved your ass and I was busy before you called Steve, I had much better things to be doing, so maybe next time I'll just leave you to sort out your own shit."

"Busy? In a meeting. Not being funny Stark but when did you do an honest day's work in your life."

"There would be no point in trying to explain it to someone like you."

"Someone like me?"

"Yes Steve, if stupidity hurt it would have killed you by now."

"No, boys. No! We are not doing this." Natasha forcefully stood between them, a fire in her eyes that dispelled the animosity between them. Their attention was diverted as Bruce struggled to his feet. Tony went over to offer him a hand, but Bruce's gaze was fixed on Steve.

"I need to talk to you." The look in Bruce's eyes was a little daunting, so Steve obliged, walking over where they could get some privacy.

"You want to know why Tony couldn't come?"

"Yes, actually that would be nice." Steve started, then checked his tone.

"He is managing a joint project, a project that could change everything we know… It's huge."

"That doesn't explain much Bruce." Steve interrupted.

"That meeting he missed today… they were running an experiment, which if he wasn't there to supervise there was a risk that it could kill everyone involved."

"So, why not just cancel?"

"He did… The financial cost of that however..." Bruce sighed, he was making stuff up on the spot and finding it hard to be convincing. Thankfully Steve was the easiest of the group to fool. "He funded that himself, cancelling it cost him big time. Of course, money isn't the problem, but he's not going to be able to repeat that for maybe a decade, the conditions were perfect earlier, but its too late now. He had to choose, between helping us now and potentially saving the world in a few years' time… and he chose us. So, you give him a hard time for even one more second and you are going to regret it, Steve, do you hear me."

Steve swallowed, he couldn't say he understood how one experiment could save the world, but Bruce's threat was real and it wasn't just from him. "I hear you. Sorry."

"Don't apologise to me." Bruce turned and walked away, leaving him in a bit of a haze.

"Clint what is taking you so long?" Natasha barked over coms.

"Sorry, but 20 flights is one hell of a lot of steps and I'm friggin tired."

"Couldn't we have just sent a drone?" Bruce asked

"Oh, well you could have said that earlier."

"Clint just come down so we can get to medical and call it a day." Natasha said tiredly, the pain was starting to grate on her now and the pounding in her head was threatening to make her very irritable.

"I'm pretty much there now so I might as well carry on.

A sudden roar cut through the air. There was another craft. They hadn't all been destroyed. Within seconds the thing was in the air and moving fast, it's silver panelling damaged making it easily visible in the bright sunshine. Clint appeared on the roof and jumped into action. He had a couple of arrows left and he fired them fast. The craft dodged. Shit. Now he was out of arrows and the pissed off alien was heading straight for him.

"Clint, get down its coming right for you!" Natasha yelled, firing off shots but making no impact. Bruce was too exhausted to Hulk out again. Steve's shield was on the ground 50 metres away.

"I'm out of arrows!"

"Get out of there!" Natasha begged

"Oh Jesus." Clint had seconds to make a decision. The craft wasn't firing, maybe it was too damaged. A flash of red that knocked him off his feet disproved that theory. There was only one option. "Urgghh Tony you better catch me!"

"Clint no… I," But it was too late. Clint was running towards the edge of the roof as the lasers ate up the ground, heat licking at his heels and singeing the hair on the back of his neck. A moment later he was in the air and plummeting towards the ground.

"Sir we have no flight power, autopilot is non-functional…."

"Disable the arc safety protocols, use everything we've got and get me airborne!"

Tony took back control, or tried to at least. He took off but every move hurt with a searing pain. His limbs were moving but there was little sensation, he felt limp and numb. That's when he realised he wasn't moving fast enough, he wasn't going to get there in time. He fired the repulsors hard and felt the acceleration jolt through him as he closed the final few yards.

Clint was falling. The ground approaching fast. He'd spent a lot of time jumping off buildings and he was used to that feeling in his stomach, that feeling of no control. But this time it was a little more sickening. He looked for the streak of red and gold he was relying on, only to see he hadn't moved. What was Tony playing at? Oh shit, Clint had a bad feeling about this. Staring at the rapidly approaching concrete Clint started to imagine how much it would hurt If he hit it. He closed his eyes. It was too late. They couldn't help him now.

Damn it, now he was coming in to fast, he tried to slow the suit down but he didn't react fast enough.

Clint was hit hard from the side and his breath was knocked from him. Suddenly Clint heard a crunch. His body whipped sideways uncontrollably, he expected blinding pain but he felt nothing. Even as his shoulders slammed into the ground and the skin was torn off his back as he slid to a halt in the rubble, he didn't feel a thing. He saw the mess of red and gold armour in a ball beside him and he felt fear. Fear for himself, but also for his friend who'd tried to save him. Why wasn't Tony moving? He tried to roll but his body didn't so much as twitch. What was happening? Clint gasped for air as concerned faces surrounded him, bombarding him with questions that he couldn't quite hear for the strong ringing in his ears. That's when he realised.

"Oh my God." Clint breathed. The fear grew on his friends faces as Clint's voice broke and he bit back a tear.

"Clint, what is it?" Natasha demanded, an unusual amount of emotion showing in her features.

"I can't feel my legs."

Everyone took a step back. Steve turned his eyes the stirring mass of red and gold metal on the floor. Tony started to slowly try and get to his feet, but the ground was snatched away from him as he felt himself slammed into a wall and held up by his throat.

"What the hell are you playing at?" Steve screamed in Tony's face, to no response. Tony was limp in his armour, he couldn't make out Steve's features but he could recognise his voice.

"Steve, It's not his fault." Clint yelled.

"Shhh, Clint just stay still Med Evac is on its way."

"But it's not Tony's fault." Clint whined desperately.

"You are way off the reserve, Tony. First you disappear, leaving us to get blown to kingdom come. As usual you go off on your own and you not only couldn't you be bothered to give us fair warning we were about to get blown on our asses, you're little plan didn't even not work."

"Steve stop!" Natasha yelled. She was angry. Hell, she was furious with Tony right now. But she was objective enough to know that rage was no help in the situation.

"I knew we couldn't trust you." Steve's eyes were full of grief and rage. "I never should have called you in, you're a liability… you're a lazy, arrogant…"

Bruce was looking very green and stampeding towards Steve with an unhealthy look on his face. "No Bruce no." Natasha's feet slid across the ground, failing to find grip and she tried to bring Bruce to a halt. "Snap out of it. Clint needs you."

Bruce stopped in his tracks and his pallor started to return to a more natural shade.

"Get your Doctor head on and look after Clint, I will sort this out." Bruce still looked torn and unconvinced. There was something very angry very close to the surface, wanting to tear Steve into small pieces. "Please, Bruce trust me."

Bruce nodded slowly and did as he was told.

"Steve, you stop this right now." Natasha growled.

"This is his fault!"

"Is it? Is it really. We all screwed up, we let our guard down when we hadn't made proper checks." As the words came out of her mouth the reality of them started to sink in. It wasn't Tony's fault, well it was, partly, but it wasn't all on him. "It doesn't matter anyway, is this helping Clint?"

Steve let go of Tony and the suit landed on its feet with a thud.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Natasha sighed.

Steve stormed away and knelt by Clint's side, Natasha turning tail to follow. Then she paused. She still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Tony hadn't lifted the face plate this whole time, none of them had actually seen _him_. Steve had just torn him a new one, and he hadn't said a word, that wasn't Tony Stark. And the way he was stood now, the way he had been moving, everything was wrong.

"Tony take off that helmet."

"I can't."

"Why."

"Bit bashed up in case you hadn't noticed." That voice, it was being synthesised heavily, much more than normal. But she hadn't missed it. He had slurred his words just then.

"Are you drunk?" Natasha stared in disbelief.

"What! No." Tony retorted, but the infliction in his voice was weak.

"Tony, "Natasha scanned him sceptically. "Are you even in that suit?"

There was no reply, but some crackling in Tony's suit.

Jarvis was trying to say something, but the suit was too badly damaged and likely on critical power. Tony felt himself fading, he was done.

Natasha was about to go over there and rip off that faceplate when something caught her eye. Her chest tensed and the air was knocked out of her.

"Tony, the reactor!" The circle of light was out. A small flicker of light is what had drawn her eye to it, but it had been fleeting, momentary. The reactor was dead and that meant Tony wasn't far behind.

Tony realised that the suit wasn't just holding him up, it was completely locked. He tried to move his head but the robotics were fused, the display had frozen minutes ago.

"Oh shit. I thought I felt weird." Tony laughed internally. Perfect end to the perfect day.

"Tony where is your spare!" Natasha was at his side instantly as the suit started to fail completely.

"This is the spare." Tony mumbled. The suit stopped holding him up and his legs certainly weren't going to take over. Bruce looked up from Clint as the medics arrived, eyes laser guided to Tony. He noticed the absence of light immediately and scrambled to his feet as Tony buckled. Bruce and Natasha were now taking the role of keeping Tony on his feet.

The medics pushed Steve away from Clint as they buzzed around him, fitting him to a spinal board and strapping an oxygen mask to his face. In a matter of moments, they were gone, loading him into a SHIELD ambulance, which quickly left the scene.

Steve looked round to see the scientist and the red head struggling with Tony's limp form. His stomach dropped and realisation hit. He'd been such an idiot. He swallowed down his regret and embarrassment, moving forward to help, Bruce glared as he approached, but allowed the stronger man to take Tony.

"What do I do?" Steve asked.

"He'll have another spare in the tower."

"I'll get a Quinjet." Natasha started to run, but was distracted by the screech of tyres as a car flew in to view. It skidded to a halt alongside them and the door piled open as Happy jumped out of the driver's seat. A spare reactor was thrust into Bruce's hand. He was bundled into the car by Steve who was left in the street with Natasha as Bruce slid in the back with him and slammed the door. Tony didn't remember anything else after that. Finally, his body caught up with him and sucked him into oblivion

….

"Tony, can you hear me?" The voice echoed around Tony's skull as bright light pierced his eyelids. He groaned weakly, but only a squeak escaped his throat.

"Hey Buddy, welcome back."

Tony felt the sensation start to return. His arm was strapped across his chest and there was something wrapped around his torso. Tony grasped at his chest with his good arm. Well, he thought it was his good arm, but he realised that ached like hell too.

"It's ok" Bruce soothed, seeing Tony's panic. "I changed out the reactor. There's no lasting damage, but you cut it close there." Bruce looked exhausted; worry and a hulk out will do that to a person. "I also reduced you shoulder and taped your ribs so please try not to move too much."

It was silent for a moment as Tony took in his surroundings. He was on his couch in his workshop in Stark tower. That made him feel better. God, he was grateful for the familiar surroundings right now, right down to the smell of the leather and the detergent in the blankets. His head was still pounding, his vision was yet to focus and quite frankly lifting a finger was more than he could manage.

Bruce looked at Tony in concern as sweat started to form on his brow. He was both surprised and concerned by the fact that Tony hadn't even tried to utter some snide remark, or said anything for that matter.

"Tony how are you feeling?" Bruce frowned, gently removing Tony's hand from where it was scratching at his burns and put it back down by his side.

There was a nervous pause as Tony let his eyes slide closed and Bruce became convinced this was just a short-lived bout of consciousness.

"Shit."

Bruce sighed and nodded silently. Of course he did, but he hadn't expected Tony to say it, certainly not like that; so dispassionately. The look in his eyes as they flickered back open was tired and defeated. He tried to tear his mind away from the thought of what Tony had just been through, without him, without anyone there beside him, but he couldn't. This entire day had been a disaster.

"Rhodey and Pepper are flying in, they'll be here in an hour or two." Bruce was uncomfortable with how quiet Tony was, he hated one-way conversations. It was selfish, but he just wanted Tony to tell him that he was fine, like he normally did, even when he clearly wasn't. But that wasn't going to happen this time.

"Clint," Tony croaked, throat dry and sore. "Is he?" Tony's voice was worryingly level. He didn't move, just stared blankly at the ceiling.

"He's in medical downstairs. They've got the best people on him." Tony breathed a little. So he was alive at least.

"Is he going to walk again?"

"Tony, it wasn't your fault, you know, that right?"

"Bruce," Tony stifled a cough and then continued. "I know how hard I hit him. I felt… I felt him break. _I_ broke him." Tony's eyes were riddled with pain at that memory. It made Bruce feel sick. Why did this keep happening? But at least there was some sign of emotion from Tony now.

"Caught him, Tony. You caught him. If you hadn't he would have died."

Tony sighed weakly. Usually he would have argued. He would have reminded Bruce that it was his fault that he hadn't finished off the fighters in the first place and his fault he was too screwed to control his suit. It was his fault that he'd gone in to fast, hit Clint too hard and fractured the guys spine. And all of this because of the merge and the fact it had come early… and that was his fault too. But he was just too exhausted to say anything, almost too exhausted to keep breathing.

"Just give it to me straight Bruce."

"I'm not too sure. He went straight into surgery but it depends how bad the break is. They didn't know anything until they got the X-rays and we haven't been allowed in. Broken spines aren't always as bad as they sound…He could be anything from completely fine…

"To being in a wheelchair for the rest of his life." Tiny finished, swallowing hard at that thought. Nausea ran through him as the picture of Clint's limp form refused to leave his head. He'd done this. He was a danger in anything he did. He couldn't be Iron man, or an Avenger, even if he wanted to and he could hardly be Tony Stark either, not with the CAEB tearing up his life whenever it felt like it. Even without all that Tony was the definition of a screw up, he always made the wrong decision and it never cost him, always somebody else that paid for his idiocy.

"How did you take those fighters out anyway?" Bruce tried to divert attention from the subject.

"I had time before it started. I figured that if I could get them close to me before the merge, the shockwave would fry them, so I had Jarvis send a signal to lure them to me."

"Nicely done."

"When can I fly back." Tony's face was expressionless, the awkwardness filling the space between them.

"Whenever you feel up to it… and I hate to dump more on you right now but…"

"What Bruce?" Tony's voice was not much more than a whisper as he let his eyes drift shut, he still hadn't so much as shuffled. There was no spark in his friend anymore and he prayed that it would pass. It had been a tough day, Tony was going to be down, but he had to get his fight back again. He had to. He was Tony Goddamn Stark.

"It's probably better to get you on the plane as soon as Pepper and Rhodey land. The next meeting, well, it's less than 48 hours away." Bruce close his eyes and swallowed hard.

"Brilliant." Tony sighed. He wasn't even trying to pretend anymore; the sarcasm lay thick in his voice.

"Tony I'm so sorry."

"We knew that this would happen." Tony said simply.

"Yeah, but not this soon." Bruce was desperate for Tony to open-up, just a little bit, but it was hopeless. He'd shut himself in, well and truly.

"Yeah, well, that's life."

Bruce was desperate to say something, but he just couldn't form the words. Tony was giving up, he could see it in his eyes.

"I'm going to have to wait here."

"Tony, we have time, we can get you home."

"Bruce if it comes sooner, the EMP will take out the plane, we'll crash and I'll kill all of you. We need a bigger safety margin. Especially after today."

Tony had a very fair point and Bruce nodded sadly. "I'll look in to why that happened Tony."

"Bruce, just leave it for now, I'll sort it myself."

"Tony…"

"I need to sleep now Bruce." Tony huffed sounding a little annoyed, which stopped Bruce's protests.

"Ok…" He said hesitantly. "You want me to go?" He asked confused. Usually Tony's reaction was quite the opposite after a meeting. He usually wanted company, in fact he clung to it, but he could almost feel Tony willing him away, refusing to even look him in the eye when they spoke.

"Please." He said simply.

"Ok."

Bruce looked back on his friend who'd closed his eyes and lay still. Maybe this was what Tony needed right now. Maybe he'd be better in a few hours. Pepper and Rhodey were coming anyway. They'd know what to do. It was going to be ok.

…

 **Ahhh Clint, sorry for the cliffhanger, but, equally not sorry, yes it was intentional.**

 **Hopefully this story will be complete before this summer is over… we are getting close to the final showdown but knowing the random last-minute ideas that keep popping into my head it might not be as soon as we expect.**


	25. Chapter 25- Where do we go from here?

**Remember Guys a few words of a review will make any writers day.**

 **I hope I split this at the right point… so let's start by seeing how poor Clint is doing.**

 **Trigger warning for some pretty tough mental battles in this bit so proceed with caution.**

 **Chapter 25 – Where do we go from here?**

Half an hour later after he'd left Tony to rest, Bruce made his way to the medical wing. He'd spent some time on the roof clearing his head in the fresh air, looking out over the city. Thankfully the destruction in the Bronx hadn't been visible from so far away, he could almost imagine that nothing had happened and that's exactly what he needed.

As he sat with the other Avenger's outside Clint's room the tension was so strong it was suffocating. Clint was out of surgery. They'd brought him not long ago and everyone waiting anxiously for news as the doctors did their tests.

"I'm not going to leave you guys hanging." The doctor left the room and everyone was suddenly on high alert. "He's got some sensation in his legs already. He fractured 3 vertebrae but the damage was only minor. There is still a small amount of swelling round the spinal cord, which is why he felt the loss of sensation and although nothing is certain once the swelling has gone I think Agent Barton could be back to normal within 2-3 months. He has been very, very lucky."

Natasha clamped her hand over her face in pure relief as smiles broke out amongst the other Avengers.

"Can we see him?" Steve asked but Natasha couldn't care less. She pushed past the doctor and was by Clint's side in a heart-beat. When the doctor nodded Steve followed suit with Bruce hanging back a little, conversing with the doctor for a bit more info.

"Hey you." Natasha chirped as Clint smiled seeing them enter. "How are you feeling?"

"I am feeling… which is all that matters." Clint smiled weakly. He was very pale, but there was a glint in his eyes which was incredibly reassuring to everyone in the room.

"Doctor says, it looks good." Bruce said quietly, sitting in the corner.

"Yeah, I've been lucky. What about you guys?"

"Battered and bruised, but all in one piece." Natasha smiled. "But let's just focus on you for now ok?"

"Yeah sure, I am not going to complain." Clint looked around the room, gathering his surroundings. They were in Stark tower, that much was obvious. Best medical facilities they knew. Clint looked to Bruce. "How long till I'm walking then Doc."

"We can start physical therapy in a few days, getting back to normal will take a couple of months."

"Couple of months!" Clint asked incredulously. "Well that's got to come down."

"Clint, don't complain, you couldn't have asked for any better."

"Well you know me Tash, I always ask for better." He smiled softly, though his face was still very pale and he couldn't help but wriggle his toes every few seconds, just to be sure he still could and he wasn't dreaming. Knowing they were in Stark tower made it all the more obvious that there was one person missing from the room and that troubled him.

"Tash, you couldn't get me some soda from the venders, could you?"

"Soda, really, straight after surgery?" Natasha smiled, but got up anyway. Right now, there wasn't anything she would have got for him so she should up, patting him on the shoulder before she left.

Clint waited just long enough for Tash to get out of ear shot. "Tash, Hang on… Tash? Ah, damn."

"You want something else?" Steve asked, standing up eager to help. He avoided wincing as he stood up and he felt the pain of his patched-up injuries. His head spun a little, but he didn't let it show.

"Yeah, just really craving some pie. But it's ok, I'm not that desperate."

"No, it's fine I'll get it." Steve stood up and grabbed his coat. "What type?"

"Lemon meringue if they've got it. Thank you, Steve."

Clint smiled as it was just Bruce left in the room.

"Nicely played." Bruce chuckled nervously. "I'm guessing that means you want to talk to me."

"Yeah, I couldn't eat anything right now." Clint scoffed, noting the slight nausea he felt at the thought of food, especially something so sickly. "What's wrong with him Bruce." He asked sincerely.

"Who?" Bruce played dumb, but highly doubted that tactic would work.

"Come on, be straight with me. You have a lousy poker face and I just want to know if he's ok."

Bruce paused, considering his options.

"His little plan left him more than a bit bashed up Clint, he'd drained his core the suit was running on fumes, he didn't have enough power to fly."

"So, jumping off the roof wasn't the best idea then."

"No."

"Well I'm bloody glad he did."

"We all are."

"If there wasn't enough power to fly…"

"He turned off the safeguard, he used all the power and the reactor…" Bruce's face fell at the memory

"No, he's not…" Clint jerked in panic and groaned instantly at the pain.

"Tony's fine, we got a new one in." Bruce rushed over to him and put a steadying hand on Clint's chest in concern. "Does it still hurt."

"I'm fine Bruce."

"Does it still hurt." Bruce said forcefully.

"No, just when I moved."

"Any loss of sensation?"

"No, Bruce, it was the gravel burn on my shoulders that stung, my back is fine."

"I should let you rest, I'll tell the others to come back later." Bruce turned to leave hastily. Clint was at a critical stage and he shouldn't have been getting him worked up.

"Bruce come on Dude, wait. Sorry I freaked you, I won't move again, just finish with me."

Bruce considered sternly. "Fine, but one more stunt like that and I'm having you sedated for the night."

Clint rolled his eyes but accepted. "Is he still here?"

"Clint, let's just worry about you ok." Bruce was keen to change the topic at this point.

"Please Bruce, he's my friend too."

"Aren't you mad at him?" Bruce asked surprised at the overwhelming concern Clint was showing for someone else when he was the one with a broken spine.

"What for?"

"Clint, you broke your back."

"If he hadn't have caught me I'd be dead, I think I got off lightly and besides, apparently I'm going to be fine."

"You are being incredibly level headed about this. If I'd broken my spine, I'd find someone to blame."

"Yeah, well, been there done that in the past. Shit happens."

Bruce shook his head with overwhelming respect for the archer. "You're pretty awesome Barton you know that?"

"Don't feed my ego, it's big enough as it is." The pair chuckled, but it was clear that Clint hadn't forgotten Bruce hadn't yet answered his question.

"He's upstairs in the penthouse resting."

"How bad is he."

"Oh, he's fine Clint." Bruce said, trying to pass it off.

"Bruce, I can see it in your eyes, something's wrong, something bad has happened hasn't it and I'm not talking about today, it's been happening for while hasn't it."

Natasha came around the corner slowly. She'd clearly been listening for a while. She offered Clint the soda, knowing he'd refuse it and then sat back down by his bedside sipping it herself. "We're not stupid Bruce, we can see something'ss wrong."

"I know you're not stupid and I know how awful I am at keeping secrets, but I made a promise and you can't make me break it."

Bruce was right. They couldn't. But that didn't mean there wasn't another way to find out.

"Can I ask him myself." Natasha asked sincerely.

"He's not going to like it, but I suppose I can't stop you. Let me go check on him, but you should probably come up before Pepper and Rhodey get here."

"They're flying out?"

"Yeah, they should be landing soon."

"Ok. Bruce, thank you."

"Don't thank me yet."

…..

Tony hauled himself to his feet a few minutes after Bruce left. It took a lot of effort, everything he had in fact, but he didn't really notice it any more. He'd had enough of this, in every possible way he was done with this joke of a life.

10minutes ago he had been angry, he'd been furious with the CAEB and with himself… then he'd spent ages deliberating whether or not they were the same thing. He was appalled at the mistake he'd made, just another thing to add to the long list of failures he'd had over the years. He had been filled with hatred, choked full of guilt and self-loathing, it was after all his fault that had happened to Clint and no one would convince him otherwise. They just saw it as an accident and it was… in that it wasn't intentional, but they didn't know everything. They'd hate him if they did.

With Tony being Tony, it wasn't long before he realised that none of these feelings were going to change anything. What had happened, had happened, he screwed up so now he had fix his mess.

He'd looked for a solution to all of this and he'd only found one. It should have frightened him. He should have been sorry, he should have been angry. He should have felt something, but he didn't. He was numb and completely indifferent, no longer caring what happened to him and if he was honest with himself he didn't really care what happened to anyone else anymore. He'd done enough damage and he'd played his part. He wasn't there to save people anymore, he could only hurt them and there was only one way he could stop that.

Tony couldn't remember where he'd got the knife from that he was turning slowly in his fingers. Probably the kitchenette in the corner of the workshop, though he couldn't recall ever having used it before. He let out a melancholy sigh as he let the thoughts swell in his head.

There was a time, it was only a day ago but it felt like years, when he had been convinced he would never stop fighting this. With that aside it was hardly long since he thought he'd never be able to do what he was about to. Death was very final, it had always been a tempting way out for him, since he'd been a child he'd considered it, but there had always been something to stop him. Recently that had been the thought of what his death would do to his few friends, Rhodey, Bruce and of course Pepper. He wouldn't destroy their lives just to escape from his own pain. He'd rather suffer, it's what he deserved anyhow.

But it was different now. He didn't care about hurting them, because he knew what he was doing was for the best, not just for him, or them but the entire planet. He was a danger to them all, because of the CAEB. And there was one very simple way to end it.

As he sat on the edge of the workbench, turning the point of the blade towards his own chest he was reminded that there was always another presence in the room.

"Jarvis."

"Sir."

"Fancy shutting down for a while."

"Sir the inhibitor is detecting worrying changes to your brain chemistry. You have heightened levels of quinolinic acid and adrenaline also, your serotonin levels are abnormally low. Regarding your current behaviour my protocols prevent me from shutting down and suggest I call someone immediately."

"Don't bother, I'm fine."

"If you could put the knife down the knife, Sir, I would be happy to oblige."

Tony sighed and slid onto the computer chair, discarding the knife on the side ceremoniously. He sighed again, deeply, throwing his head back and allowing the chair to spin in a slow circle. He liked the way the ceiling looked, swirling above him. Breathing deeply, he winced as his ribs protested. He picked up the knife again and used it to slice through the tough, annoying fabric that was restraining his arm.

This was stupid. He threw the knife across the workshop and it dug deep into the wall with a satisfying thwack. He wasn't going to do it now, not here. He was too tired now anyway. He stood up and tried to roll his shoulder, testing his movement. It only brought him pain and a wave of nausea that forced him to his knees. He groaned, breaking the Stoney silence in the workshop and restlessly made his way back towards the couch. He needed to sleep, he could barely stand anymore and he didn't want to try to.

There was something warm running down his face. As he dabbed it and saw red on his fingers he swore. Another fucking nosebleed. He snatched a couple of tissues out of the box on his desk and gripped his nose angrily, which only made the bleeding worse. It only took a few seconds to soak through the handful of tissues he had clutched to his face and as he snatched up another he could have sworn he smelt toffee apple.

He looked around confused. He was in his workshop. He knew that. So why did it feel like he was seeing this all for the first time? His arms and legs tingled like an electric current was coursing through him. The lights in the room started pulsing, getting brighter and brighter until his eyes were burning. He felt his muscles tense, his body twitched involuntarily and his throat closed up. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. He was choking and that smell was getting stronger. It filled his senses now but it was no longer sweet, it was horrible, like burning rubber. It was so overwhelming he could feel it in his throat and his eyes watered. Thoughts raced through his head. What was happening?

Then he heard footsteps approaching.

….

"Will you wait here?"

Natasha nodded. They'd agreed that Bruce would check on Tony and text her to come in if Tony was in a good enough state to deal with her. Bruce was fairly certain he wasn't going to be.

At least he had good news to bring about Clint, but that didn't change the fact that Tony had been through his worst 'meeting' to date, a battle, an arc reactor failure and an emotional trauma all in the same day. Bruce had never seen someone so exhausted or dejected when he'd left him earlier and he couldn't blame him.

That's why Bruce was very surprised to see Tony on his feet, with his back to Bruce, when he approached the door. The sling was discarded on the floor. Brilliant. The surprise turned into a pang of annoyance, but if Tony was being as ridiculous as normal that had to be a good thing. Right?

"Surprised to see you up." Bruce said cheerfully. "You feeling better?"

Tony didn't react. That was strange. That's when Bruce noticed the strangled gasping noise that was coming from his friend.

Bruce ran towards him. Tony's head began to slowly drop, tucking into towards his chest a few seconds later he began to double over, slowly folding in on himself. He was falling in slow motion, his body giving in. Bruce placed a hand on Tony's back, his heart pounding. He could feel the muscles in Tony's back, they were tense and twitching beneath his t-shirt. The pieces clicked in Bruce's head.

"It's Ok Tony, I've got you. Just relax." Tony's legs finally buckled and his body weight rolled backwards into Bruce's waiting arms. Tony's form stayed tucked and tense as Bruce lowered him to the ground slowly and gently, positioning him on his side. "It's going to be fine, everything is going to be fine." Bruce soothed, his voice perfectly calm and reassuring despite the feeling eating at his insides.

Tony's eyes were blank, staring at one spot as his body twitched slightly, soft squeaks escaping his mouth in place of breaths. "Ok, I gotcha." Bruce looked across the room to the couch that was littered with cushions and blankets as he rubbed slow circles on Tony's back. He was going to need those or Tony was going to get a few more bruises to join the day's collection. But he didn't want to leave him.

"Jarvis. Get Natasha."

"Bruce what's going on?" Natasha appeared but a moment after Bruce's request. He knew this was the last thing that Tony would want, but he may well need an extra pair of hands.

"Tony? Shit!" She exclaimed seeing the mess of brown hair behind Bruce on the floor.

"Grab anything soft and bring it here now." Natasha didn't hesitate, despite her initial shock she leapt into action gathering all the cushions her arms could hold.

She emptied her load onto the floor next to him as Bruce lifted Tony's head. "Slide it under." He demanded softly. Natasha arranged a couple of cushions quickly to support the billionaire's neck.

"Bruce?" Natasha asked her voice uncharacteristically betrayed her fear and confusion. What was wrong with Tony and why did it not seem a shock to Bruce? What had they both been hiding since he'd left?

"He's going into a seizure."

Natasha nodded, breathing out to calm herself and observing the slight and sporadic quivering of Tony's fragile form.

A few seconds later Tony gasped involuntarily. His back arched with painful force and his wrists curled. "Okay Tony, Okay." Bruce soothed, keeping back a little, but hands poised above Tony's writhing frame. His legs began to thrash violently and pained groans filled them both with concern.

"No, No, No Tony don't fight it, just relax. Don't fight it. It's going to be fine." Bruce put a hand on Tony's back to try and keep him on his side, but Tony kept rolling. Bruce gripped him more tightly, fighting against Tony's thrashing to keep him in position. It looked rough, brutal. It was horrible. Natasha felt sick. How on Earth was Bruce keeping so calm when she felt like she was crumbling? This was too much for one day. Far too much.

Half way through there was a crunch and a pop, followed by a string of expletives from Bruce. Natasha wanted to ask what was happening, if she could do anything, but she knew that she just had to wait and be ready for any instruction from the doctor.

It took a few minutes for Tony to start growing still again, but it had felt like hours. As Tony's body grew still Bruce backed off again, giving his friend space. He just kept talking to him, reassuring him, through the whole thing, relief overwhelming him when Tony finally stopped twitching.

"Tony." Bruce asked as the Tony's eyes started to flutter open. The billionaire was glazed with sweat, his face pale, his body trembling slightly in shock. "Tony, you had a seizure." Bruce stated comfortingly. Tony groaned weakly, confusion and panic filling his deep brown eyes.

"Can you hear me?" Bruce met Tony's eyes, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"What happened? What's going on?" Tony's voice broke a little and Natasha covered her eyes to hide the tears she was biting back. She'd managed not to cry all day, after Clint, after everything. She couldn't remember the last time she'd cracked and it took her all of 20 seconds to fix it and straighten her face.

"It's ok Tony, you had a seizure. It's going to be fine, I just need you to relax and stay still for me." Jesus Bruce was good at this. Natasha didn't understand why she was reacting like this, it was just a seizure after all. And it was probably to be expected after the arc reactor incident earlier, but God this was a mess. Tony looked a mess. In every possible way he seemed broken and it crushed her inside. As she moved around to see his face, the stain of crusted blood under his nose and staining the front of his shirt made her stomach flip. The red stood out strongly against the pale, greyness of his skin and made her feel nauseous.

"How do you feel?" Bruce asked, allowing Tony time to get some bearing.

"My head hurts." He whined, the confusion and disorientation clear in his voice.

"Ok." Bruce soothed, gently feeling Tony's shoulder. Shit. "Tony I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to do this sooner rather than later."

"What."

"Let's just roll you onto your back a second. You popped your shoulder out again and I need to put it back." Tony groaned in response, allowing Bruce to roll him gently, cradling his head.

"I know, I know, this sucks. But let's just do this and then we'll get you comfy ok?"

Tony nodded woozily and Bruce lifted Tony's arm out slowly to the side, lifting the elbow and rotating his forearm until he felt it slip back in with a crunch. "Sorry." Bruce hissed as Tony's face twisted in pain.

"Ow!" Tony groaned groggily and drew his arm back in towards himself, cradling it, protecting it from further infliction.

Natasha helped Bruce get Tony to the couch and settle him in. His eyes were open, but he wasn't really conscious. It took very little persuasion for him to fall into a deep and restful sleep. That's how Bruce liked to think about it, but really his friend was practically comatose right now.

"Go back to Clint, don't say anything. We'll talk about this later."

"Bruce…" Natasha said, pleadingly

"Please Natasha."

"Ok." She agreed, leaving one wounded for another.

Bruce sighed as Natasha left the room and rubbed his head. He gently wiped the blood off Tony's face and got up wearily, picking up the sling up off the floor. "What the?" It had been cut clean through on the strap. "Tony, you ass." He noticed the knife dug into the wall. What on earth had he been doing?

Bruce bodged the cut strap with some Duct tape he found in one of Tony's draws. That would have to do for now, because he certainly couldn't be arsed to traipse down to the medical bay for another right now.

Arm re-slinged and on the couch Tony looked peaceful. The colour had returned to his cheeks and the blueish tinge from around his mouth had also faded.

"How long did it last Jarvis."

"4 minutes 39 seconds."

"Jarvis get me caffeine." Came a groan from the sofa.

"Tony. How do you feel?"

"Peachy."

"You remember what happened?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Tony, very gingerly, started to pull himself up rejecting Bruce's offer for help. "and I hope to God that I was dreaming the part where I saw a certain Russian red head." There was something a little dark and dangerous in Tony's eyes.

"Tony…"

Tony's eyes rolled in exasperation. "Just brilliant." He got to his feet angrily, swaying a little as he paced, but carrying in regardless.

"Tony please sit down."

"Now she's going to have questions. How much does she know?"

"Just calm down and let me start from the beginning." When Tony just kept pacing nervously Bruce carried on. "Natasha knew something is wrong, from the way you were in that battle and from my lousy poker face. She was always going to notice, It's Natasha. She asked me outright downstairs what was wrong, but I didn't tell her anything. She wanted to talk to you herself and I could hardly stop her. I was going to see how you were and then maybe let her in, but then you collapsed and I needed an extra pair of hands."

"This can't be happening. This seriously can't be happening." Tony yelled and kicked the trash can, propelling crumpled paper and food wrappers all over the room.

"Tony, I'm sorry, I really am, but you were having a seizure, what was I supposed to do?"

"Bruce I'm not upset with you. I know you're doing your best and I appreciate it, it's just…" Tony sighed, He hadn't meant to upset Bruce and the look of hurt in his friend's eye really made him feel guilty. "It's just been a really shit day."

Bruce couldn't argue with that. But perhaps he could ease the load slightly.

"If it helps Tony, Clint is going to be ok. The operation went well, he's got feeling back already. It's not going to be too long till he's up and about."

"Really? He's going to be alright?"

"Yes Tony." Bruce said sincerely.

"Thank God." Tony breathed. Finally sitting back down with the relief. "That helps, that definitely helps."

"Actually, the first thing he did was ask about you."

"What?"

"Yeah. He knows something is off too and he doesn't blame you one bit. He's just worried about you Tony. He misses his friend. Natasha does too."

"Bruce, I can't…" Tony said sadly, shoulders slumped, he looked utterly defeated. He couldn't get past what had happened.

"You can Tony. I'm not going to make you do anything, you know that… but if I can get Steve out of the way, will you go talk to Clint?"

Tony breathed deeply, mulling it over. He missed Clint, but how could he look him in the eye after what had happened. How could he trust either of them with the truth?

"OK." It was time. It's not like he had long left with these meetings accelerating like they were. Today's had been bad and if they carried on like this, it was only a matter of time till they finally did him in. There was always plan B if things went sideways… run back to Malibu and shut the world out. Maybe that sounded petty and childish, but he couldn't care less. "Fine, but not right now."

"I wasn't suggesting now you idiot Now, you're getting back on that couch and getting some sleep."

"Tony!" A familiar high-pitched voice entered the room, accompanied by the familiar click of high heels and flash of red hair. Another welcome and familiar face was not far behind.

"Hey Pep. Rhodey."

Pepper ran forward and pulled Tony into a hug, running her fingers softly through his hair.

"You should be resting." She smiled gently.

Rhodey came closer and clipped him round the back of his head. "You idiot." He scolded, before taking his turn to pull him in for a hug. "Don't do that again."

Suddenly everything was a whole lot better. It was far from rainbows and kittens, but maybe it would be ok.

….

"Tony get your ass in here, I can hear you shuffling about out there."

"Hey feathers." Tony said quietly, stepping into the room from where he'd been hiding in the corridor. Clint smiled broadly behind his tired eyes. Tony still loitered in the doorway, like an animal staying close to his escape route.

It was the middle of the morning, a good 16 hours after Clint had come out of surgery. He'd had company every minute since then, that was apart from the half hour before Tony had walked in.

"Clint, I'm so…"

"Tony don't even go there. Not your fault, whichever way you look at it. We'd have been screwed without you and I'd have been dead."

"But…"

"Tony, just stop. You think this is your fault. If you hadn't have come yesterday, we'd have all been dead and likely half the city. You took those things out, yes you missed one, we wouldn't have got half of them without you. If you hadn't have caught me I'd be dead, yes it wasn't textbook, I got hurt, but rather that than having you all scoop me off the sidewalk."

"But your back…"

"Seriously, my back is going to be fine, I start physical therapy today and could be back walking in a few weeks. And even if it wasn't the case, Buddy, it's better than being dead. It's as simple as that. So, if I hear one more apology I'm going to get mad. Ok?"

"Fair enough." Tony smiled weakly.

"Now, Are you ok?"

Tony looked taken aback. "I'm fine Clint"

"Don't say that, because I can see that you aren't."

"I'm a bit bashed up, broken ribs, dislocated shoulder, but the reactor is sorted there's no lasting damage… I'm fine, just sore."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Clint, I…"

"Tony, you don't have to tell me everything. You want to keep it to yourself that's fine, it's your business, but just stop pretending there's nothing wrong. Just admit it at least, don't lie to me."

Tony nodded as if to confirm it.

"Thank you. Now, you going to talk to me? I know I just said you don't have to… but I'm going to be kind of offended if you don't."

There was a silence in the room for a moment.

"Surely I've proved you can trust me by now. After everything, have I put a foot wrong?"

Tony avoided looking at Clint. He just stared at his feet in contemplation. The silence hung thick in the room as Clint waited patiently for a response. And then Tony got up and went to the door.

"Tony, seriously, come on!" Clint said exasperated.

"I'm coming back Clint, but if I'm going to tell you I don't want to have to repeat myself."

Tony came back a few minutes later with Natasha and Bruce in tow. Once they were all settled Tony began.

"The inhibitor is flawed." He started by covering old ground, and of course for Bruce it was all old ground. "It wasn't done when I put it on and there is no way to fix it without replacing it. That isn't an option for obvious reasons."

Tony took a deep breath and looked to Bruce for reassurance, he got it in spades.

"These 'meetings' are a cover. The project and everything, its legit, but I need a reason to be unavailable at certain times. The flaw in the inhibitor means if it doesn't disengage from time to time it will crush my brainstem and kill me."

"So," Clint asked nervously. "What happens when it disengages."

"It's painful, very painful. I go from being separated from the CAEB to having it all on top of me at once and at the end I have to re-merge with it, which sends out an EM pulse knocking everyone on their asses."

"Hang on…" Natasha said, starting to piece together yesterday's events.

"I'll get to it Tash." Tony stopped her. "I have a room set up at Malibu that contains the pulse. I'd had a meeting a few days before you called Bruce in. I was still weak when I flew out. I thought I had a good half day before the next one, but stress speeds it up. That time I was off coms, I was in the warehouse… busy."

"So, that blast, that took everything out, that was the CAEB, merging again?"

"Yes, I realised if I could draw the craft to me by emitting a high frequency pulse from the suit at the right moment. I thought I could make the most of a bad situation and fry them in the process."

"That was a good plan Stark." Clint nodded, still trying to take in what was happening.

"I'm guessing that's why the Hulk was going crazy looking for you then."

"Yes." Bruce said. "That was unforeseen. Jarvis tried to get in contact with Hulk, to get me back to Tony, but evidently the Hulk was too concerned to let me help by regaining control."

"So, how bad are these… things, what are we calling them?" Clint asked

"We're just referring to them as meetings." Bruce conformed

"They were manageable until today." Tony said, but Bruce butted in.

"They are horrific." Tony glared at Bruce disbelievingly. "I'm sorry Tony but they are. The first one was manageable, after that they had been just horrible."

"So, they are getting worse?"

"Today's was twice as long as much, much worse than the ones before it." Tony admitted, more to Bruce than to the others in the room.

"Could it… Kill you?" Clint asked hesitantly, reading the worry in Bruce's eyes.

There was a silent moment of contemplation before Tony replied.

"Yes." He said simply. "They are going to keep getting worse and eventually, my body, CAEB or no CAEB will not be able to stand it any longer." There was a shocked and awkward silence and Tony looked shiftily at Bruce and then instantly regretted it. Bruce saw it though and turned towards his friend in concern.

"Tony what?" Bruce's voice was dark with worry. Tony never gave stuff away. He felt guilty about something. He hadn't told Bruce everything.

"Jarvis…" Tony started and reconsidered his wording. "My heart rhythm got a bit whacked today, so Jarvis had to give me a shock."

Bruce closed his eyes in shock, blinking a few times. "That's one of the reasons the arc was so low and it failed."

"Lost heart rhythm how?" Bruce asked in horror, seeing in Tony's eyes that that still wasn't the whole story.

"V-fib." Tony admitted.

Breathed sucked in a breath. "How long."

"Not long." Bruce glowered at the lack of specificity. "… I don't know a few seconds, I wasn't really counting."

Clint felt sick, the lines on the ECG tracing faster than before and the quiet beeps cutting into the room. Natasha stared in disbelief. This was worse than anything she'd imagined.

"And that seizure earlier."

"Just an after effect." Bruce answered. "It's usually a nose bleed, but…"

"I obviously pissed off my body enough today for it to try and exorcize my demons."

"Not funny." Natasha said, eyes still full of the trauma of seeing that earlier.

"Sorry." Tony said sincerely.

"How long?" Clint said abruptly. "How long do you have Tony?"

"I honestly have no idea. The next one is in tomorrow, if I make it through that one we should have a better idea."

"If?"

Tony huffed. "Figure of speech." He said defensively. "I should be fine, hopefully yesterday was an anomaly to do with the fight…"

"But it could carry on getting worse." Bruce said despondently."

"Tell me you've got a way to fix this." Clint said, looking between Bruce and the billionaire hopefully.

"I thought I did…" Tony offered, "but, no. I don't think there is a way to fix it this time."

"Then take it off. Whatever the CAEB throws we'll deal with it." Clint said simply.

"That could kill me anyway, Clint. We tried it that way already and no one else is getting hurt because of me."

"Tony, we are not losing you."

"It's me or the planet."

"There's always a way." Natasha said, confidently. They were going to fix this. They weren't going to let Tony and Bruce give up.

"Look, we'll talk about all this later, Tony, you need to rest and so do you Clint. That's enough for today." Bruce stopped them there.

"Before you go… and I'm going to get shouted at for saying this, but, what do you want to do about Steve?" Natasha asked. She was all for respecting Tony's wishes, but Steve being the only one on the team that didn't know what was going on was going to cause problems at some point.

Bruce looked to Tony. He was the only one who could answer this.

"Tell him."

"You sure?" Bruce asked warily.

"Yeah. Captain spangles can't be the only one in the dark."

"Even if it's his fault." Clint snorted.

"Clint, I thought we were over this." Natasha warned.

"Well it is and he pissed me off today so..." Natasha shook her head and ignored their injured hawk.

"I think you've made the right choice Tony, I know things between you and Steve are crap… What I'm saying is, I wouldn't have said anything if you didn't want me to and I still won't if you change your mind. I'm glad you have said what you've said, but think it over. We won't do anything till morning, and if you reconsider it won't go any further." Natasha said sincerely and Bruce smiled at her in surprise.

"You know I won't say anything." Clint said, fatigue creeping into his voice even though he remained scarily cheery considering the trauma he'd just been through.

"Thank you, guys. Really. But you can fill him in, I just don't want to be there when you do."

Tony stood up and stayed still for a moment. He closed his eyes and huffed as he waited for the room to stop spinning. He really needed to rest and although he hated to admit it, even to himself, he felt awful. He just wanted to board his jet, fly home and leave the bad memories behind him, but he knew that he was too weak to do anything right now and as if he could ever escape his memories. He couldn't risk flying now anyway, not until the next meeting had happened. Looks like he was stuck here.

"Tony?" Bruce asked, concerned, as Tony realised he'd lingered a little longer than he'd meant to.

As Tony felt a wave of nausea wash through him and his legs become weak he slowly lowered himself back into the chair.

"I'm just going sit here for a little while." He said levelly, but no one was fooled, he hadn't intended to fool them anyhow. Natasha moved forward like a cat, quickly but quietly and knelt in front of Tony, putting a hand on his chest, careful to avoid the arc reactor as she felt his weight lean into her. His head bobbed slightly but he rolled it back, catching himself and fighting to keep conscious.

"Tony?"

"Fine Brucie, just a little dizzy." Tony had gone unbelievably pale and a sheen of sweat had broken out across his forehead. Bruce lifted Tony's chin and looked into his friend's eyes with deep concern, his pupils were even, and un-dilated, but he could feel a slight tremor through his entire body, which made him anxious.

"Can you smell anything?" Tony wasn't really showing any signs of fitting again, but Bruce was now paranoid.

"Smell anything?" Tony asked frowning tiredly. He just wanted to lay down, not be poked and prodded with all these concerned faces.

"Toffee apple." Bruce said simply, reminding Tony of what he'd smelt the last time.

"No, Bruce, it's not like before. I'm just… exhausted." He admitted, reluctantly.

"Right, bed now." Bruce said firmly. And Tony nodded and started to take put his weight on the armrests and ease himself back to his feet. "Hold on a second." Bruce turned and breezed out of the room, returning a few minutes later with a vial and hypodermic syringe, drawing the liquid up into the barrel.

"Hey, what the hell is that?" Tony looked a little uneasily at his friend.

"Relax Tony, call it a precaution... it's phenobarbital, an anti-convulsant, I don't want any more nasty surprises."

"Fine, whatever." He flopped his arm out lazily as Bruce flicked the tip of the needle before he felt the familiar sharp scratch of it stabbing into his arm. He huffed in annoyance and rubbed his eyes with his other hand.

"Hey buddy? You ok?" Rhodey came into the room, obviously having been called to help.

"Bruce, you lied." Tony whined a little as his eyes slipped slowly closed and his muscles started growing limp.

"What about?" Bruce sat up sharply in concern.

"You just sedated me, didn't you?" Tony didn't sound too pissed

"No Tony, but drowsiness can be a side effect."

"Huh." Tony grunted.

"You awake enough to walk?"

"I suppose." Rhodey sighed a silent 'Thank God', he would not have minded carrying his best friend, but he was tired enough to wonder if he physically could.

"Right, on three."

…

Bruce looked over the figures again and realised something wasn't adding up. The evening was approaching, he could see Tony on the monitors, still asleep on the couch downstairs. Pepper was working and Rhodey had gone out for a run seeing as Tony was out to the world.

Bruce had been staring at the screens for hours now and finally he was starting to piece something together. He'd been trying to figure out why the meeting had advanced so suddenly. He had been convinced that something had gone wrong, but now he was sure.

The whole algorithm had mutated, it was orders of magnitude greater than it had been the last time Tony had shown it to him. He still didn't completely understand it, this was maths on an unworldly level… a Tony Stark level, but he'd worked his way through half the terms, figuring out what they related to and then he had found it. A set of 6 separate terms that were influenced directly by the strength setting of the neutral inhibitor. A few hours later and Bruce was certain. The inhibitor strength had been increased.

He swung round on desk chair, pushing himself across his lab to another computer. He logged into Tony's secure server and pulled up the inhibitor folder. Permissions, operation, activity log… He pulled up the log and it was a long stream of function tests and brain chemistry reading, but there was one obvious stand out. As he'd suspected, the inhibitor function had been changed, and the strength level had been nearly doubled. No wonder the 'meetings' were coming thick and fast, no wonder the meeting had been so severe.

He checked the time and saw it had happened just about when Tony had arrived at the fight. Bruce knew that he himself had permission to change the function, but he didn't know of anyone else and he sure as hell hadn't screwed with it. Had Tony done this himself? And if so why? They'd been as happy as they could have been with settings, it was the best they could have done to control the CAEB and minimise the regularity of the meetings, so why change it at that moment. The timing was everything. Tony hadn't felt he was safe to fight, had he? He'd felt the need to up the inhibitor so the CAEB wouldn't make an appearance.

Bruce put his head in his hands. Was Tony trying to kill himself? Either way at least know he knew the issue he could put the inhibitor back to its original settings and hopefully set the meetings back to how they'd been before.

"Jarvis, who changed the inhibitor settings, the log doesn't list the user."

"The user asked it was omitted from the log."

"Was it Tony?"

"I cannot reveal the information you require Dr. Banner. But I must note that Mr. Stark does not have permission to change the inhibitor settings."

Bruce cocked his head to the side. "What?" Why wouldn't Tony have given _himself_ permission.

"Mr. Stark did not feel that it would be safe for him to have control over the settings for obvious reasons."

"Obvious?"

"Should the CAEB be in control and not Mr. Stark."

"Oh." Tony really had been thorough. He clicked back a few times and opened the permissions folder.

There were 4 names

Bruce Banner

James Rhodes

Pepper Potts

And…

Steve Rogers.

Jarvis can you give me the location of the user when they logged on to change the settings?"

There was a moment's hesitation from the voice in the ceiling before it answered. "The log on was from a mobile device which at the time was in the Bronx, New York."

"No, he didn't." Bruce shook his head, shock rolling over him. "He wouldn't have, not after everything."

The shock turned into anger and the anger burned into rage. How could Steve have done this… again.

But it was far too late for that. Bruce may not have turned green, but he was far from in control when he stormed out of the lab. There was one word plastered in green in his mind.

STEVE

…

Natasha and Steve had finally come re-surfaced from the medical bay after spending the afternoon keeping a very bored Clint company. They were quietly preparing some food in the kitchen. Clint wanted pancakes, typically, but they kept glancing through to Tony, taking care not to wake him. Rhodey and Bruce had deposited him on the couch earlier on request. They'd have prepared to have put him to bed properly but Tony had been insistent.

Natasha had noticed that Tony hadn't so much as flinched since they'd arrived and it was a little disconcerting. She put the pan into the dishwasher as Steve boxed up the pancakes to take down to Clint. Natasha walked stealthily up to Tony's sleeping form and knelt next to him. He was curled up so tightly on his side that she couldn't see the comforting rise and fall of his chest. The quick hover of the back of her hand in front of his face soon put paid to any concerns, she sighed contently when she felt the warmth of his breath tickle her skin. He looked so exhausted, even in the grips of sleep, that she didn't want to wake him just to check he was ok. She decided to settle in the chair next to him, just to keep an eye and picked up a book.

"Hey…" Natasha started cheerily as Bruce entered the room, but as she looked up from her book her stomach dropped. "Bruce?" Concern bit at her voice. The man in question either ignored her, or judging by the green in his eyes, didn't hear her at all. The latter was true. All Bruce could hear was the sound of the blood rushing through his veins, fuelling his rage and homing him in on his target.

Natasha snapped to her feet as Bruce rounded the corner into the kitchen.

"Bruce?" Steve looked up from the paper to see the smaller man bearing down on him. Before Steve knew what was happening Bruce had him by the throat. He felt his feet leave the ground and the air leave his lungs as the hand clamped his windpipe shut. Steve's hands scrabbled to his neck in shock and he felt his shoulders slam into the wall accompanied by the sound of cracking plaster.

"Bruce!" Natasha yelled in concern for both parties involved.

"You can't stop can you. You can't stop fucking with people's lives! You have to have control!"

"Bruce what are you talking about."

"So, what?" Bruce roared. "You knew Tony was never going to toe your line so you tried to force him to!"

"B-Bruce." Steve wheezed, going a little pale and clutching Bruce's wrist with both his hands. Bruce slammed his head back into the wall in response, making him see stars.

"Bruce, talk to me, what is this about?" Natasha tried to hide the panic in her voice at the sight of Steve's skin turning blue.

Bruce ripped Steve from the wall still holding him by the throat and dragged him towards the couch. He slammed Steve to the ground next to where the pale form of Tony lay resting. Momentarily out of Bruce's grasp Steve scrambled from the floor and on to his hands and knees, gasping for air. He planted a foot solidly on the floor, but before he could stand a fist clasped into his hair, forcing his head up to look at Tony.

"You did this!" Bruce roared before tearing the gasping Steve off his knees and crushed him back up against the wall. Tony woke up with a start, his face grey and his eyes cloudy until he saw what was going on.

"Bruce please!" Natasha pleaded as Tony got to his feet and grabbed Bruce by the arm forcefully. The green eyes snapped round to look at him.

"Bruce put him down right now!" Tony yelled, eyes dark and unyielding.

"Not unless you can give me one good reason not to knock him into next week!" Bruce growled back

"Because it's not his fault."

"Tony…."

"Bruce, I asked him to do it!" Tony roared.

"What?" Confusion snapped Bruce out of his rage. He let go of Steve and he fell to the floor. Steve gasped and wheezed for air, coughing and spluttering, trembling a little in shock. He felt Natasha's arms around him, soothing and guiding him to his feet. Then there were another pair of hands, larger and stronger, placed firmly on his shoulder. Two dark hazel eyes looked him up and down, checking he was ok. Tony's eyes pierced him, the message clear. 'Are you ok'. Steve nodded, gasping a little at the pain.

"Ok Tash, get him out of here."

"Tony?" Natasha was a little more than confused and even more worried about leaving anyone alone with Bruce in this state. She couldn't help but flash back to the Helicarrier. Natasha didn't scare easily, she could walk into a fight with nothing more than a tingle of nerves, but at that moment she'd been more terrified than she could ever remember being.

"I've got this Tash."

"I'm not going to lose it." Bruce reassured, but Natasha wasn't convinced.

"Oh really, because your eyes looked pretty green a minute ago!"

"Just take Steve to medical and get out of here." Tony said levelly, trying not to project his annoyance into the room at Natasha's unhelpful comment. Finally, she turned her back on them, helping and unsteady Steve to the elevator.

Once the doors slid closed Bruce turned to Tony in confusion. Eyes returned to their usual deep brown, expressing both fear and shock.

"What the hell was that Bruce!"

"What the hell was that? What the hell do _you_ mean?"

"I thought that was fairly obvious." Tony said plainly.

"You asked Steve to up the inhibitor." Bruce said incredulously.

"Yes, I did. I'd spotted he'd been snooping through the files, I could hardly do it myself and I knew what you would say."

"Tony why?"

"Why? Because the CAEB in the middle of New York city is a risk that I'm not willing to take."

"But we were happy with the set-up, there was no risk…"

"There's always a risk. I minimised it."

"But the merge, you knew it would affect things and it happened so early you put yourself in danger!"

"I miscalculated, big time. Yes. I put everyone in danger not just me Bruce and that's why Clint is downstairs in the hospital. I am never going to forgive myself for that, so I do not need any more crap from you!"

"I'm not going to argue fault with you again Tony and I'm not buying this 'minimise risk' crap. We were happy with the inhibitor settings. What changed?"

Tony's jaw went tense and he looked away, the anger in his eyes fading away. There was silence for a long while. Bruce just stood, waiting with folded arms for the other man to speak.

"The other day in the lab." Tony started, walking towards the bar and finding a bottle. "I'd been working on the car and I was typing on my phone, walking backwards and I stepped on the creeper. Of course, I went flying, but I never hit the floor. The CAEB stopped me."

"What?"

"Yeah, it made no sense to me either, until I got back to my feet and realised that if I had fallen, the sharp end of a screwdriver would have stabbed straight through my neck." Tony took a swig of the drink he poured himself and Bruce's brow furrowed, his head rocking back slightly in surprise.

"So, it broke through the inhibitor to save you."

"Yeah." Tony finished his drink and poured another. "And in all honesty, I was fairly grateful for that, until I spent the next 10 minutes on the floor feeling like my brain was being set on fire."

"So, if that happened for one little incident in the shop, then in battle..."

"Exactly, who knows. And yes, it may just have been stopping me getting killed, but what if that means it's getting stronger, what if breaks through the inhibitor?"

"Tony, we can't jump to conclusions like that and why on earth didn't you down the strength after the battle? that last merge was… well you didn't need to go through that."

"It needs to stay like this Bruce."

"Tony, it will kill you!"

"Yes, it will. But kill me, kill the CAEB, problem solved." Tony downed another glass before Bruce snatched the bottle away.

"You have to be kidding me!" Bruce warned. Tony tried to snatch the bottle back but Bruce gave him a dangerous look that made him back off.

"There's only been one solution to this from the start Bruce." Tony shrugged.

"So, you're going to kill yourself." Bruce threw his hands in the air in frustration.

"No, I'm going to let myself die. There is a difference."

"I can't believe you. After everything…"

"Bruce I'll hang on as long as I can, honestly I will. And if we can find another way then brilliant, but we both know that ship has sailed."

"And what about this big thing looming over us, this big battle you see coming huh. You're going to bail and leave us to clear up that mess."

"It's not like I caused it!"

Bruce opened his mouth, but decided not to rise to that. He clawed through his hair in frustration while he reconsidered what to say. "Tony, remember before New York what you said to me? You said that the Hulk saved me for something. I didn't believe you then but you were right and the one thing we haven't considered through this entire thing is maybe the CAEB is saving you for something too. Maybe we need you Tony, to save the world or whatever, and maybe you with the CAEB in tow is the only way to do it."

Tony shook his head, reaching behind the bar for another bottle, this time keeping it out of Bruce's reach. "I've had enough of this Bruce. I want out." He said shrugging his shoulders in indifference.

"Tony, I cannot tell you how much I want this to fix itself and things suck at the moment but there's always a way…"

"No Bruce, I mean I can't face one more single day of this." Tony yelled. "Even if I woke up tomorrow and the CAEB was gone and all this was over, I'm just too tired to carry on. Too tired to keep waiting for the next pile of crap to come my way. I've been screwed with for as long as I can remember and someone is having one hell of a lot of fun with it, so I'm calling it. I won't take any more!" Tony spat.

"Tony." Bruce's chest seared with pain at his friend's words. "Tony, I know how you're feeling, Hell I've been there. But just please, pick a reason any reason and then…"

"Don't tell me it gets better Bruce, because I've spent 30 years believing that and look where it got me."

"Tony please, let me help." Bruce begged. The pain in his eyes made Tony look away and bite down hard. He shook his head, breathing loudly through his clenched teeth until his jaw ached.

"Bruce, you guys have helped. You've helped a lot, but I've passed my point of no return. You are right though; you guys are the closest thing I have to family and I'm not going to leave you in the lurch if the CAEB really is the only solution. Turn down the inhibitor, drag me to the 1-yard line and I'll make the touchdown. But please respect that I have no intention of coming out the other side. As soon as the CAEB has done its bit, consider me under a DNR."

Bruce was struck dumb. He couldn't believe what he was hearing and he had no idea what to do. Tony turned his back, taking his arm out of his sling and his body language changed completely. It was if the conversation had never happened. Tony cocked his head to the side, gazing thoughtfully behind the bar, considering his choice carefully. He grabbed another couple of bottles with a satisfied grunt, swigging from the one he still had in his hand.

"Hmm." He mused, realising he hadn't the hands or pocket space to carry all three he smiled as he slipped the unopened bottles into his sling. "Maybe this thing isn't so annoying after all."

"Tony I'm not going to let you walk away with those."

"You can take it off me Bruce, but I've got 10 more down in the lab, there's the minibar in my room and well, my secret stashes are a secret so I'm not going to tell you where they are."

"Tony." Bruce pleaded.

"Bite me."

"Tony!" Bruce called after him.

"Go make it up with the dear Captain, I've got 30 hours till you'll have to start my heart again and I'm not going to waste it."

…..

" _Jarvis, get me a private line to Steve." Tony yelled over the roar of the roar of his repulsors firing him towards the city._

" _As you wish sir._

" _Stark?"_

" _Steve, don't interrupt and don't ask questions. I know that you know that you can alter the inhibitor, so I need you to up the strength for me."_

" _Why?"_

" _That's a question."_

" _Tony…"_

" _Extra CAEB protection. Set it to 150% and don't mention it to Bruce."_

" _What is going on Stark?"_

" _Question."_

" _You can't expect me to…"_

" _Do it or everyone is in danger. Capisce?"_

" _Fine. You nearly here?"_

" _Look up and find out."_

Steve was torn from the memory by the sound of a knock on the door

"I think it's my turn to offer a grovelling apology in this sorry saga." Bruce sighed entering the room and sitting down in the corner.

"Yeah well it's nice to see some role reversal." Steve croaked uncomfortably. "It's usually me doing the apologising." He coughed a little, having stretched his vocal chords a little too far.

"Steve…"

"Bruce, you don't have to say anything it's forgotten." Steve reached out for the glass of water and took a tentative sip. "You were protecting Tony."

"I should have got my facts straight."

"Well," Steve smiled," I would have preferred that."

Bruce sighed and sat down. "I freaked Tash out as well didn't I?"

Steve nodded uncomfortably. "I think you did. She went to get some air."

"I'll add it to the list of messes I've made to clear up." Steve couldn't miss the un-usually dejected state of the scientist. Something had happened and it had been hours since the incident upstairs.

"Clint thinks it's hilarious. Captain America knocked on his ass by a scientist." He tried to inject some humour into the conversation, but the result as a failure.

"Well I'm glad someone does."

"You said messes?" Steve squeaked, going back to the water. This was damned inconvenient but with his healing he knew it would only last an hour or two.

"Yeah, Tony's gone on a bender. Thinks getting drunk is a solution to all his problems and this time he sure as hell ain't listening to me."

Steve raised his eyebrow and breathed out. That certainly wasn't good. "Can't really blame him though can we. Can Rhodey help?"

"I think its best we leave him to Jarvis until he's in a better mood."

"Or passed out?"

"Yeah, or that. At least he'd be getting some rest."

Steve nodded. "Did you fix the inhibitor?" He said slowly, voice finding its rhythm.

"Next on the list."

"Go get that sorted, I'm fine, I'm not mad and you have nothing to apologise for."

"You should be resting your voice Steve." Natasha cut in to the conversation.

"Natasha." Bruce breathed.

"Bruce." The pair looked at each other intently. Natasha giving nothing away on her face.

"I think we need a chat."

….

"Natasha, I'm sorry about earlier, I know what it looked like, I really do and yes I was furious, but, I promise you was in control."

Natasha sighed as they wound they're way through the Medical wing towards the elevator.

"Bruce, I want to trust you and you haven't let us down, in fact, you've done quite the opposite, but…" Natasha was unusually flustered. Bruce turned his head to the side, wondering what was really on her mind.

Natasha sighed defeatedly. "I honestly haven't thought about it in a long time, but when you turned, on the Helicarrier; I'm not ashamed to admit that I can't remember having ever been that scared. So today just reminded me of that and I'm still a bit on edge."

Bruce nodded understandingly. That had not been a good moment and he knew how terrifying the hulk was when you were on the wrong end. Only Natasha and Thor had seen that up close and Thor had very little to fear for obvious reasons.

"I'm sorry Natasha, it wasn't my intention to scare you all… well, maybe it was, in a way…" The scientist stuttered and shook his head, trying to stay on track. "I didn't mean to scare you…just Steve. Right or wrong I shouldn't have let my anger take me that far."

Natasha nodded in acceptance. "I know Bruce, but I still don't get what that was all about, care to explain?"

"The reason Tony's meeting was early and worse than normal was because Steve increased the strength on the inhibitor before the battle started."

"Wait, he can do that?"

"Yes, me, him, Rhodey or Pepper have access." Natasha didn't know whether she should be pleased or offended that she wasn't on that list, she kept her thoughts in check as Bruce continued. "I thought he'd done it to control Tony in the battle without thinking of the consequences, again, but apparently Tony asked him to do it."

"I can understand why you got mad Bruce, I really do. Steve's made mistakes, we all have."

"Maybe, but I screwed it up this time. Tony's my best friend, but the Hulk is complicating things, it's nice we both agree on something for a change but it just multiplies anything I'm feeling at the time."

"So, say if you're mad at Steve, because of Tony then the Hulk wants to…"

"Pull his spine out."

"Balanced response."

"Yes, that's the issue. That stunt the other guy pulled at the fight, just running off like that, it can't happen again. So, I'm working it out with him, or trying to. It's like talking down an egotistical and delusional 5-year-old, but one that has a nuke in his pocket."

"Well you have plenty of experience there."

"How?"

"Sounds just like trying to manage Tony to me."

Bruce laughed at that and was glad of the humour. The conversation had been awkward and defensive from the get go.

"Natasha, what happened on the Helicarrier…"

"It's fine Bruce, I'm over it."

"Please let me explain." Bruce implored to the back of the retreating red head. Natasha stopped and turned around. Maybe it would do them both good to hear this. "There is one aspect I still can't quite control, if 'Bruce Banner' gets hurt then I can't stop the Hulk coming out to play and he comes out pissed. I put a gun in my mouth the other guy spits it out… I get thrown through a window and break ribs in the fall, Hulk takes over and tears the hell out of the Helicarrier."

"We better start wrapping you in cotton wool then." She said slipping into Clint's room while Bruce carried on down the corridor.

….

Steve wasn't going to sit in medical with not much more than a sore throat all night. Maybe Stark medical wasn't pressed for beds, but all he wanted was a glass of water and some painkillers, which hardly warranted 24/7 care by a full medical team. He had to admit it had been nice to have a bit of time laying down, with nothing to do. He still ached like a son of a… after the battle, but it was his new injuries that were most distracting. As his fingers gently traced the bruises on his throat he made a mental note to go above and beyond not to piss Bruce off again in future. Knowing he could tap the Hulk's super strength while he was still in Banner form was more than a little disconcerting.

He checked on Clint as he passed his door and was pleasantly surprised to see him asleep, Natasha in the chair alongside him. He'd watched the nurses get more and more frustrated throughout the day. Apparently, Clint was nearly as bad a patient as Tony when none of them were around to watch him.

That was were Steve went next. Tony and the bottle, not a good idea under any circumstances and it was about time someone other than a machine went and checked on him. Natasha had filled him on the inhibitor and the 'meetings' after she'd brought him to the med bay. Steve hadn't been able to take his mind off the engineer since then. The guy was going through hell and it only made him feel worse about everything that had happened since New York. How much more crap could Stark take? He'd misjudged Tony at every step, but now he was going to watch him like a hawk for a very different reason… to make sure he wasn't running himself into the ground.

His conversation with Bruce earlier had concerned him. Something had happened after Steve and Natasha had left. There was something wrong between Tony and Bruce, he heard it in the scientist's voice. Whatever had been said had shaken Bruce, that much was clear, and now he felt the need to leave Tony alone.

Steve could barely remember a time where they had all just got on, maybe there had been a fleeting period, but since then it was a constant loop of people falling out or being awkward, then sorting things out just in time for the next problem to split them apart.

Steve and Tony… Steve and Clint, Natasha and Clint, Tony and, well, all of them…Bruce and Steve and now the one ever-stable relationship, Bruce and Tony, seemed shaky. It made Steve miss simpler times, the world he'd left behind a long time ago and the friend he'd lost.

Thankfully, Steve found the door opened when he scanned himself in. He had fully expected for Tony to have the lab on lockdown, but apparently, he hadn't bothered. As he stepped into the room the lighting was low and it took a second for his eyes to adjust. The smell of alcohol was un-mistakeable and hit him immediately. He sighed when he saw Tony's outline sat in his chair, limp, torso buckled over the bench and snoring softly.

Steve quietly wandered towards him, avoiding the broken glass and spilled liquor on the floor, at least that was one less bottle he'd managed drink. He gave Tony a nudge and got no response. The sling was still round his neck, but it looked complex, so the super soldier decided it would be easier to take it off than try and fix his shoulder back into it. He gently gathered up the Engineer into his arms, taking care not to jostle his shoulder or ribs. He held Tony close to his chest as he picked his way round the various trip hazards littering the floor in the darkness. Stark would kill himself one day if he didn't tidy up, the place was like a mine field.

The billionaire stirred a little as they approached the lift, looking up into Steve's blue eyes as the elevator doors closed. Tony took a moment to recognise who was holding him, mind hazed and intoxicated. Tony groaned drunkenly, there was a stern look of indignation on his face and he swatted an uncoordinated hand at his helper.

" 'm not handbag Ssssteve, put m'down." Tony slurred, barely with it. Steve didn't reply, just carried on.

"You're warm." Tony mumbled, nuzzling his face closer as he shuddered a little in Steve's grasp. Steve pressed the back of his hand to Tony's forehead and frowned at the coolness of his skin.

"And you're pretty cold." Steve had to admit it had been chilly in the lab, and resting on the metal bench would not have helped matters. He took Tony to his room and laid him on the bed, wrapping him snuggly in the bed clothes, hoping that he would warm up soon.

Tony was out for the count, un-moving and expressionless. Steve sat and watched him for a while, taking comfort in the rise and fall of his chest, ignoring the rattle of his rib cage as he breathed. Of course, most people wouldn't have been able to hear it, but Steve could hear a bit more than most people. He could hear the slow pumping of blood through Tony's body, the slight scratching of his hair against the pillow as he breathed and the soft hum of the arc reactor, keeping him alive.

Tony was going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning, Steve realised and knowing Tony, Steve was the last person he'd want to see when he woke up, so it was probably time to go. Besides, Steve was tired. Even super soldiers needed to rest, especially injured ones. He ruffled a hand through Tony's hair as he got up to leave. There was no response from him and it gave him an idea. Steve nipped to the kitchen and returned, silently depositing a few things on Tony's bedside table before heading for his own room.

…

Pepper had, had so much work to catch up on when she'd arrived. She'd put it off as long as she could, but returning to the tower she'd had little excuse to avoid it any longer. She'd worked like a train today, shifting double what she normally would in 12 hours to get back to Tony's side. She'd been surprised to smell the alcohol on Tony's breath as she climbed into bed, but she wasn't upset. If anything could take the edge off and get him to sleep through the night she was grateful for it, God knows he deserved some peace. The next meeting was tomorrow, and if the last one was anything to go by he was going to need all his strength. The thought made Pepper tear up. She would have done anything to save him from what he was going through, but as Bruce had repeated over and over there was nothing that she, or anyone, could do for him. Something in the pit of her stomach told her that everything was going to be ok, she didn't know why and it certainly didn't make any sense knowing the odds, but it was the only comfort she had so she clung onto it.

As she crawled into bed and felt Tony's skin next to hers she frowned at the icy touch. She snuggled up close, allowing her warmth to seep into him and soon they were both cosy and sound asleep.

…

Tony woke up to the soft stroking of fingers through hair and a whisper of goodbye. All he could muster was a hum of contentment at the familiar voice and the pleasant sensation since the blackness refused to desert him. It took a long time for the fog to lift and his head pounded in protest of the previous night's decisions. Bruce would be pissed, he thought. But for once he didn't care. There had been more than a reckless mission of self-destruction to his drinking last night, he needed to be out of it, with the meeting today it was usually this sleep that brought with it the nightmares. He couldn't have dealt with that again, especially after yesterday, their battle was likely to have dredged up even more bad memories to add to the cocktail as if it wasn't already bad enough. At least his plan seemed to have worked and he was incredibly grateful for it. It was more than worth the pain and nausea he would probably be reeling from for the rest of the day. He rubbed his temples as he summed up the courage to open his eyes, praying that the room was still in darkness.

"Morning Sir, a reminder that your meeting is scheduled for 5:35pm."

"Shhh Jarvis."

"There is some aspirin and a glass of water to your left. Captain Rogers left it for you last night." Jarvis said, adjusting the volume very low.

Tony sat up very gently. "Steve left me aspirin?" Tony answered his own question as little flashes of his drunken memory pieced themselves together. "Oh." Not what he had expected, but he took them gratefully.

"J, time?"

"9:32am."

Tony gave a three-fingered salute and spent a little time getting to his feet. He was more than used to this feeling, but it had been a while. He was out of practice with the art of hang over recovery. He clumsily fixed his arm back into his sling. His shoulder was aching like hell, so maybe he would put up with the annoying restraint for a few hours.

Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee. His mind was on a loop, focusing on the one thing that would kickstart his brain and start to blow away the sluggishness that was absorbing him.

There was only one other person in the kitchen and that was Steve. Tony groaned internally, preparing himself for an earful about responsibility and recklessness but instead all he got was a smile.

"Do you feel as bad as you look?" Steve said softly, wary of migraine Tony was likely dealing with.

"Probably worse, not that I've looked in the mirror."

Before Tony could make a beeline for the coffee machine, Steve slid one his way over the counter. Tony frowned at it suspiciously. "What's this?"

"Coffee." Steve said simply, turning his attention back to the pan.

"And that is…"

"Breakfast. Full fry up. Perfect hang over cure."

Tony looked Steve up and down, brow furrowed, eyes squinted and pouting slightly.

"Is it poisoned?" Tony blurted out.

"Tony!" Steve scorned.

"I'm sorry Steve, I just don't trust you when you're being nice."

Steve sighed. "Has it really come to that?" He said with a disappointed smile. Tony shrugged, finally picking up the coffee and downing it in one. Steve plated up and slid it over to Tony. He picked up a fork lazily and it slipped through his fingers, the rattle as it hit the ground reverberated round his skull causing him to hiss sharply and grab his temples.

"That Bad huh?"

"Waiting for the aspirin to kick in." Tony groaned. "Thank you for that by the way."

There was silence in the kitchen for a moment as neither man knew where to go next.

"Steve, thank you and all, but why are you doing all this." Tony said gesturing to the stuff in front of him.

"Call it a peace offering." Steve sighed. "Tony, I don't expect one hangover-cure, breakfast… offering to fix everything that's happened, but this is me realising how badly I've screwed this up and trying to start making some sort of amends for it."

"Natasha filled me in with the inhibitor stuff and I can't imagine how much rubbish you've been dealing with…"

"Steve, I don't need people feeling sorry for me."

"That's not what I'm doing Tony. What I'm doing is trying to make your life a little bit easier. I'm not going to be at your throat, I'm not come down hard on you and I'm sorry I ever did, because you don't need that, you never did. I've misjudged you, gone behind your back and sorry is never going to cover that. I trust you Tony. I trust you to deal with this in whatever way is best, for you. I just want to help ok? Because I'm sorry and you we shouldn't have driven you away."

Steve felt Tony's eyes scrutinise his expression, not unlike when he felt Natasha reading him. The engineers face softened in acceptance and he nodded slowly. "Ok." Tony said, calmly. "I know I'm not faultless in all of this, so let's give it a shot."

"Start afresh?" Steve asked, almost disbelieving that Tony was willing to give this a shot.

"As much as we can." Tony sighed.

Steve waited a moment and asked the question that was burning at the back of his mind. "When is it going to happen." Steve said tentatively.

"The meeting? This evening… about 5:30 give or take."

"That soon?"

"Yeah apparently that's how it's going to be now."

"Do you want the rest of us there."

"Steve, you don't want to see that, none of you do."

"Of course, we don't, but if we can help then we will be there."

"I don't know… but I suppose I can't stop any of you."

Tony would never ask any of them to be there or admit he wanted them to be, and maybe he really was still unsure but he hadn't said no outright, and that would do Steve as an invitation.

…

Bruce had been putting off trying to find Tony all morning. At 10am when he finally decided to start looking, he didn't bother to ask Jarvis and stuck to the most unlikely places first. Finally, he sighed, giving in and going to the workshop. It was a mess, Tony had clearly been there, but he wasn't anymore. The place was a bombsite and that was very unlike Tony, stuff got messy sure, but there was always some sort of system, a method to the madness. This was just pure chaos.

There was the click of the door behind him as Rhodey came in behind him.

"No Tony?"

"No. Been looking for him all morning, but I must admit I haven't been trying too hard."

"Why, what happened?" Rhodey looked at him curiously.

"You didn't know what went down yesterday? Didn't Tony mention it?"

Rhodey rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Ermm, I kind of only got back a few minutes ago. After seeing Tony yesterday, I flipped out, once we got him settled and I went for a run, I didn't come back. I ended up crashing at a friend's yesterday."

"Oh well you missed the party."

"Care to enlighten me?" Rhodey was a little anxious now.

"Well, I found out why Tony's merge had been so early… and so bad. Turns out that Steve had turned up the inhibitor…"

Rhodey's eyes darkened, hands curling into fists so tight his knuckles turned white.

"Stop right there Buddy, been there done that, put Steve in the hospital…"

Rhodey's rage was suddenly overtaken with surprise and intrigue. "What... How?"

"Ok, from the beginning. I found out Steve had changed the inhibitor. I got mad. I found Steve and nearly choked the life out of him."

"You or the Hulk."

"Technically me, but I might have tapped the other guy for some extra strength."

"Jesus."

"Yes, quite. The point is Tony stopped me from going too far and he told me that he'd asked Steve to do it."

"What?"

"Exactly my reaction, but apparently there was an incident a few days ago, before Tony got called in. He tripped in the lab and should have impaled himself on a screwdriver but apparently the CAEB stopped him. It broke through and know he's freaked, though he won't admit it. The reason I've been avoiding him is that he told me he's going to let this kill him. He's given up. Even if we can find a fix he doesn't want to carry on… and I… I don't know what to do anymore, what to say. I don't know if there is anything I can do."

Rhodey sighed deeply, sitting down at the desk and noticing the broken glass. "And what's this?" He pointed to the floor, in absence of any solution to offer.

"He went to get himself drunk and I… I couldn't deal with it so I left him be. I thought you'd find him later…"

"But I wasn't there either and I hadn't told you." Rhodey rolled his eyes. This had been one monumental screw up between them.

"And Pepper was working…"

"So where is Tony now?"

"Sir is in the penthouse. Captain Rogers saw he got safely to bed last night." Jarvis interjected.

"Steve?" Bruce asked, surprised.

"Since when where they talking?"

"Since this morning. They seem to have reached some sort of understanding." Jarvis informed them.

"Huh. Well, that's not what I expected." Bruce said slowly.

"We got off lightly here." Rhodey said sternly.

"Huh?" Bruce asked.

"I mean that I know Tony, we were lucky he didn't go on full self-destruct mode last night. I mean we can't both just bail at the same time. We're human, yes. I'm surprised neither of us lost it well before this point, but well…

"In future, let's agree that only one of us is allowed to break down at a time?" Bruce offered.

"Yeah… that." Rhodey nodded.

"Organised breakdowns." Bruce chuckled. "What the hell is wrong with us?"

Rhodey shook his head, a little amused. "God only knows."

….

People had been popping in and out of the penthouse all day. It had been Clint's first day of physical therapy, which had made the morning quite chaotic, especially for Natasha. Everyone wanted to be there to help, but crowding was not an option so there were a lot of questions to make up for it. Apparently, patience wasn't Clint's strong suit, he'd started the day really well and although he knew that progress wasn't going to be instant, but it still frustrated him when it turned out not to be. Tony could relate to that, really relate and was actually pretty desperate for a chat with the birdbrain, but he'd been put on house arrest by, well, everyone with the meeting so close.

He had been allowed down to the lab briefly by Rhodey, but barely long enough to get anything done, which frustrated him. To be honest the longer the day went on the more he could empathise with Clint downstairs. 'Just take it easy', 'I'll get that for you', 'How are you feeling.' The constant mollycoddling was starting to grate and the headache that was creeping in was doing nothing for his mood. It wasn't long past midday and he was already starting to feel it; a slight numbness inside him coupled with a headache that made him feel simultaneously disconnected from and tied down by, his own body. Then there was the smell of food from the kitchen that was making him nauseous.

Bruce was still avoiding him. That was to be expected. Tony had been pretty straight-up with what he'd said yesterday and none of it was pleasant to be honest he wasn't sorry he'd said any of it. He had meant it and it was about time Bruce knew exactly where they stood on the whole thing. Bruce had obviously told Rhodey, his friend had been giving him concerned looks all day and not left him alone for a moment.

When Natasha showed her head again at around 3pm, she looked exhausted in every way possible. Emotionally, physically and mentally she was done. Apparently, Clint had finally worn himself out and was getting some rest, which freed Natasha up to finally crash on the sofa next to Tony. Bruce started cooking in the kitchen. They'd only eaten a few hours ago, but they all looked like they needed it. Tony set off a movie on the screen that helped the atmosphere slowly relax and as Steve sat down on the smaller sofa, fresh from the shower. Tony let his eyes slide closed. He wasn't tired, he told himself, it was just the headache.

When Natasha looked across at Tony as Bruce brought the food through he was dead to the world. She looked at the clock with dread. There wasn't long to go now. Rhodey had been tense all day, constantly checking his watch, always looking at Tony or at Bruce and it was adding to Natasha's stress considerably. She spent all day dealing with Clint at his lowest and knew whatever was coming later was not going to be fun and she didn't know if she could deal with anymore today.

When it hit 4:15 Bruce checked the computer over and over, giving constant looks to Tony who was starting to shift uncomfortably in his sleep every now and again.

"I'm going to go set up. In case it comes early." Bruce huffed, standing up and putting his mug in the sink. The stress lines were etched on his face. Lines that displayed clearly to the room the dread he was feeling.

Rhodey stood up nodding in agreement. "I'll give you a hand." He sighed. "Can one of you wake him up at 5, tell him to come down."

"Sure, Rhodey." Natasha smiled.

….

 _Electricity crackled in the air. He could almost taste it. His heart beat heavy in his chest. He could hear his breathes, fast and noisy. The air tickled his chest as it left his nose in short hard blasts. He was trying to keep them controlled, but he could feel the burning in his diaphragm. The led weight in his stomach. The searing in his throat as his eyes locked onto the pile of armour he'd left behind. The thin fabric of his undershirt made him feel exposed. The cold leached into the sweat soaked fabric._

 _Filled with purpose his ignored the shiver that ran through him, disregarded the hairs that stood on end. His muscles howled with adrenaline that coursed through them as he strode forward. Rubble crunched beneath his feet. His breathing quickened. He knew where this would end. But he knew what he had to do._

 _He looked up for the last time, glancing at the flames that had been flickering in his peripheral. He searched for a familiar face, but there was none to be found. All there was, was ash. Dancing flames. The taste of smoke. Shattered concrete and twisted metal. Blood._

 _The sounds were muffled. Explosions in near distance, cries for help. Thousands of screaming voices. The terror of a city prickled across his skin, diluted by his own. Focus._

 _Then there was a face._

"Tony!"

Tony sucked in the air hard as he was pulled away from the street. He gasped hard, his lungs burning, demanding air. What was happening. Then the pain hit, burning through him. He screwed his eyes shut and cried out.

"Tony, Tony, it's okay, you're okay."

Tony allowed his eyes to open. Red hair and blond filled his vision.

"Steve, Tash… What?" He gasped, but his throat was on fire.

"You were having a nightmare Tony." Steve confirmed.

The voice reverberated through his skull as his senses violently sharpened. His brain felt like it was searing in his skull. He grunted sharply and squeezed his temples, doubling over and trying to bury the pain with his head in his lap.

"Tony, what's wrong?" Steve demanded,

Tony cried out again, back arching as the pain bit into him. His breaths came in rasping pants.

"Ah Hell." Tony moaned, his voice trailing off into more gasps of pain.

"What, Tony?" Steve barked, fright eating into his tone.

"It's started, hasn't it?" Natasha asked, no such panic dulling her observations.

Tony strained a nod as he bit down hard, breathing out hard from his nose. Then he was in the air. Two strong familiar arms lifting him from the sofa and the sound of running feet beneath him.

….

"Almost time." Rhodey huffed. The waiting was the worst. Actually, screw that, the meeting was the worst. The waiting, just added to the hateful situation.

"Yep." Bruce breathed tiredly, dropping the P a little. He spun in the chair slowly, glancing at the clock. 4:48pm.

"How bad is this one going to be Bruce?"

"I recalibrated the inhibitor back to what is was before, but I don't know exactly how the merge will react. It could be delayed."

"So, this could be…"

"Potentially worse than even last time."

"Or it could be fine."

"Yes."

The room fell back into silence for a while.

"This sucks." Rhodey huffed, shaking his head and looking at the ceiling.

"Bruce!" Steve's voice shook alarm into the pair of them. They could hear the footsteps but couldn't yet see the first avenger. The agonised yelp that followed Had them both on their feet.

"Tony?" Rhodey called, sweeping the figure out of Steve's arms the second he became visible.

"He had a nightmare and when he woke up, well he was like this." Steve explained quickly.

"Ok, in there, straps on." Bruce didn't need to remind Rhodey, but he felt he had to say something. Take control.

"Bruce, can we do anything."

"No, just wait here, please."

There was a deep and pained scream from the other side of the wall. "Bruce, get in here."

Bruce wasted no more time. Natasha and Steve waited where they were told.

A few minutes past and it all seemed normal. A few soothing hushed voices spilled into the workshop from the other room. Steve rubbed his head nervously and paced. The sight of Tony's trembeling frame and the pain etched on his features refused to leave his head.

"Steve, sit down there's nothing we can do." Natasha reasoned. She was sat on the floor, back up against the wall with her knees raised close to her chest.

Steve sighed looking at her with confusion. How could she be so calm?

But Natasha wasn't calm, she'd just mastered the appearance. Really, she felt like a whole nest of Ants were knowing at her insides. She breathed out deeply, measuredly and brushed a strand of hair out of her face.

Steve huffed in frustration and defeat. He sunk down next to Natasha. One eye fixed on the clock and the other on the room beyond the wall.

It was muffled at first, they weren't sure what they were hearing, but each time it grew louder Tony was screaming. Howling at the top of his lungs. The sound was harrowing. Steve snapped to his feet. The noise didn't stop.

"The straps aren't going to hold." Rhodey's voice broke through.

"Hold him." Bruce said calmly as a faint tearing noise was heard.

"I can't he's too strong."

"Steve get in here." Bruce called. Steve didn't hesitate until he reached the door. As he stood and took in the sight, he found himself locked in place. Tony was being pinned down, his body writhing uncontrollable, screeching in pain. Rhodey was practically knelt on Tony's chest trying to keep the smaller man down.

"Steve snap out of it and get over here." Rhodey yelled, voice pained with the struggle of holding his friend.

Steve grabbed both of Tony's arm's squeezing them into his sides and using his thumbs to press Tony's torso back down. He was surprised at the strength of the billionaire as he writhed and quivered beneath him. Rhodey moved down to sit on his legs.

As Steve settled into his job his eyes locked on Tony's face. The Engineer was grey, skin covered in sweat. His face was contorted into a poor display of the true pain he was in. The deep hazel eyes rolled back into his skull, eyelids fluttering from open to closed. He hoped that Tony wasn't truly conscious, that he wouldn't remember this.

"He's in V-fib." Bruce's voice dropped as he looked at the monitors.

"What!" Rhodey barked.

"It's early." Bruce seemed panicked. "Too early."

"How far are we in?"

"64%"

"What are we going to do?"

"Wait a bit, see if it self corrects." Bruce moved in pushing Steve back a little. He took out a pair of scissors."

"He's going to be pissed. He likes that shirt." Rhodey warned.

"Well tough. He can buy a new one." Bruce sliced up the centre of Tony's T-shirt and slapped the pads on, connecting the electrodes to the defibrillator.

"Bruce?" Rhodey asked when the Doctor did nothing for a few moments. Tony's writhing was slowing down, a tinge of blue pushing into his face.

"Giving him a chance." Bruce reminded. There was 30 seconds of silence. "No, he's not bringing it back, stand clear."

Rhodey jumped off Tony's legs. "Steve let go."

Tony's frame shuddered, back arching. Hands returned to hold him as he kept trembling. Steve couldn't remember when he'd stopped screaming, but he'd guessed it wasn't a good thing.

"Bruce, is he back."

"Yes." Bruce frowned, "Just massively tachycardic."

"68%." The voice in the ceiling reminded.

It was a few minutes later, but it felt like hours.

"No, come on Tony." Bruce growled.

"What is it."

"He back in V-fib. We're going to have to fight through this one."

8 shocks later Tony grew still.

"Got him?" Rhodey begged.

"Just."

"He's not breathing." Steve yelped, noticing the lack of movement from the Engineer.

"Shit." Bruce cursed and suddenly the monitors started blaring. "He's flatlining."

"Doctor Banner you must all leave the room immediately. Initiating lockdown." Jarvis stated calmly. Damn that AI.

"No, No, No, not now!" Rhodey wailed.

"99% complete, you have 20 seconds to clear the room."

"What's happening?" Steve asked.

"If we don't get out now we'll get fried like those craft we were fighting." Bruce grabbed them both by the arm, dragging the especially reluctant Rhodey out of the room behind him.

Steve saw that Natasha hadn't moved an inch as they were forced out of the room. The blast door closed and they waited.

"Bruce, we can't just…"

"Rhodey, we've got to wait it out."

"But he wasn't breathing."

"We'll bring him back. He's a fighter. You know he is."

"What's going on?" Natasha asked quietly, her face pale. Steve went over and crouched next to her as Bruce and Rhodes started arguing.

"We had to get out, or we'd have been fried at

"Again, how many times?" Natasha's eyes widened.

"I don't know I lost count." Steve rubbed his hair in fear and frustration.

"Are you ok?" She asked softly.

"No."

There was a clunk as the door started to open. Two men were running towards it at breakneck speed, not giving it the chance to open even half way before they slid underneath.

Steve stood up and wobbled a little.

"Take it easy." Natasha warned, but neither of them intended to. They both walked into the room to see Rhodey, pounded On Tony's lifeless chest.

"Again." Bruce yelled, Rhodey backed off. Tony's back arched. Bruce shook his head. Rhodey resumed compressions.

"And again." Rhodey shuffled back. Tony's back arched again.

"Got him. Thank God, we've got him."

Rhodey rolled onto his back in relief, cupping his face in his hands. Natasha slid down to the ground. Steve sighed in relief, closing his eyes and thanking God.

Bruce went straight to Tony's side. "He's still not breathing."

"Rhodey, tube, not. Let's get him hooked up to the ventilator."

"Bruce?" Natasha asked, getting back to her feet.

"This doesn't usually happen. He's usually comes around afterwards." Rhodey was breathing heavily. Shock and fear running through his system.

It was a matter of minutes before Tony was surrounded by machines and wires. It looked awful. He looked awful. His skin was still grey, the colour refusing to return to his cheeks.

There was the click of heels approaching and a flash of ginger hair. Nobody's face turned as Pepper walked into the room, gasping quietly. They were all too exhausted. Her stomach lurched. The body language of everyone else in the room told her everything she needed to know about what they'd just been through… what Tony had just been through.

"Bruce?" She asked nervously.

"He's stable." He said quietly. "He just needs some help breathing for a while."

"Need's some help breathing?"

"Look it's only been a few minutes, he's improving all the time. He should be fine."

"Bruce, you need a rest." Natasha said forcefully. The man was nearly shaken, he was almost as ashen as Tony.

Concerningly, Bruce didn't argue. He just nodded. "Go get some air, Rhodes, Steve you too." Natasha's voice did not invite argument. So, the room cleared slowly and she and Pepper stayed.

…

Rhodey had taken half an hour before he came back to relieve Natasha. Pepper has refused to leave. Steve had joined Natasha in front of the TV after a while. They hadn't spoken. There wasn't anything to say.

It had been hours since either of them had seen Bruce and neither of them felt like going to see Clint. Finally, the scientist came into the room, he looked a little better, but exhaustion was still written on his features.

"Bruce." Natasha said softly, breathing the long silence. "You ok?"

Bruce smiled tiredly. "Yes, thanks Natasha."

"And Tony?"

"Came around for a minute or two. He's breathing on his own anyway."

"That's great." Steve breathed.

The lift pinged behind them but no one looked around at first.

"Huh, fancy finding you lot here. Neglecting me, already are you?"

"Clint!" Everyone snapped around. "What the hell are you doing up here?" Natasha screeched.

Clint chuckled wheeling the chair effortlessly into the room and parking himself at one end of the big soft.

"Well I would have walked, but I pissed off the nurse and she took my crutches away."

"Clint, it's only been a few days, you really shouldn't be going at it so hard." Bruce said sincerely. Clint just shrugged. "Regardless it's nice to see you up and about." He finished.

"Yeah, you look good Buddy." Steve smiled.

"I know." Clint chimed. "But you lot look grim, what the hell happened." It was true. Every face in that room looked pale and gaunt, their eyes haunted.

"Tony's meeting." Steve found the courage to speak.

Clint's face fell. That had been today. "Where is he?"

"Upstairs recovering."

Clint gulped at the dark look on everyone's faces. "Dare I ask how bad?" he said hesitantly.

"Well he's off the ventilator." Bruce scoffed.

"What? Shit." Clint's jaw dropped open. "Can I go see him?"

"Yeah, sure, any of you can go up just make sure he stays resting."

"Pepper and Rhodey could probably do with being dragged away anyhow, they need a break." Natasha added.

"Guy's I'm sorry but we have more pressing matters. I just finished analysis of all the things we've been fighting over the last few weeks…." Bruce interjected.

"Oh, why am I getting a bad feeling about this?" Clint whined forebodingly.

"I've been studying their DNA, and although they were all completely different species they can be no mistake."

"Spit it out Bruce."

"They have all been from the same planet."

There was a stunned silence in the room.

"What does this mean."

"I'm not 100% sure, but think about it. The first creatures, the centipede like things, they were just a pest, then they got poisons, then they got teeth and finally, they got ammunition and incredibly high-tech equipment. It's been getting progressively harder to beat. It's like…"

"Like we're being tested. We've been fighting the warm-up acts." Natasha finished.

"So, something else is coming." Steve asked?

"I can't be sure. I mean, maybe the fighters were the main event, but knowing our luck…"

"So, something big is on its way… and we're three Avengers down." Steve said sullenly.

"Tony might be able to fight. And me, depending how far off the threat is." Clint offered. Steve looked to Bruce for his opinion.

"Yes, well That's very much down to chance and we can't count on it."

"So, where do we go from here?" Clint asked.

"Can we get in touch with Thor?" Natasha asked.

"You have no need Comrades." A familiar deep voice took them all by surprise. A tall, armoured blond stood in the room, a crackle of energy still surrounding him. "I have been sent back by Odin… We are aware of the threat and Asgard will be offering assistance."

"Well it's nice to have some good news today!" Steve exclaimed.

"It's really good to see you man." Clint smiled

"It is good to be here. Heimdall has been watching events since I left, he has kept me updated."

"So, we don't need to fill you in on anything?" Natasha asked for confirmation.

"Indeed, you do not."

"Anything you can give us? What are we up against, how long we have." Steve asked.

"I'm afraid I know little more than you at this time. The planet we are dealing with has much legend surrounding it, but it was all thought to be myth. The final creatures, the pilots to the craft you fought, are thought to be the slaves to a much more powerful race."

"Much more powerful. Brilliant." Clint sighed.

"Asgard's best scholars are working to demystify the lore, so that we may know more."

"So, for now we're in the dark." Natasha said, disappointed.

"Not necessarily, but it will not be easy." Thor said and the other's looked on in intrigue. "It would involve the CAEB."

"No way."

"Bruce, hear him out." Steve held up a hand.

"Stark has been having dreams, no?"

"On and off, not so much since we put on the inhibitor." Bruce said simply, but this was news to the team.

"They are not dreams, they are premonitions."

"Figured as much." Bruce sighed.

"So, what you're saying is that you want to use Tony as an early warning device." Clint asked.

"Guys you know he can't control this stuff. Besides the inhibitor is stopping it, he only gets them the night before or after a meeting."

"He had one earlier." Steve reminded them. "But he didn't get chance to say anything about it. Is it possible he will have another tonight?"

"No, because I'm going to sedate him so he gets some proper rest, you know, so he doesn't die again." Bruce said, anger flashing across his face.

"Bruce, I'm not suggesting anything, just trying to get all the facts right now." Steve defended. He truly had no intention of using Tony, but if he was having these nightmares anyway they may be able to make the most of them. "Would reducing the inhibitor work?"

"Yes, but Tony would never allow it."

"What has he seen so far?" Natasha asked, intrigued.

"I don't know, he's been very vague. Says he just knows something is coming. They used to be every night and they'd progress, he'd see a bit more each time. Once the inhibitor was on however, he's just seen the same thing, over and over."

"Ok, so we have a road to explore while we wait for Thor's people to get back to us. But we'll wait until Tony's well enough before we talk to him. Agreed?" Steve offered.

There was a positive murmur in the room.

"Right, well Tash, get Clint upstairs to see Tony for an hour, then it's back to the medical wing and sleep for you."

"Yes Sir." Clint retorted, but he was in all honesty getting tired.

"I'll take over from Pepper and Rhodey after that and Bruce, go get some sleep, you look whacked."

"I appreciate the offer Steve, but I need to be there."

"No, you don't, he won't be left alone and if something happens Jarvis will get you the second it does." Bruce opened his mouth, but Steve gave him the eyebrow. "No, buts get some shut eye."

"Fine. But wake me for my turn."

"We will. We better set up a rota."

"You staying then Goldilocks?" Clint asked.

"I am indeed."

…

 **Well guys, I changed my original idea for these last two chapters a bit, because I couldn't make Steve the bad guy any more, I mean, he's not an idiot and I don't want to take him out of character any longer. It was the turn of Clint and Steve to get some of the cruelty I have been so horribly dishing out on Tony for the past 20 chapters. Oh, and Thor's back… the earth is under impending doom. But what else would you expect.**

 **Hope you enjoyed it. It might be while till my next update as exams are looming, so I thought I'd leave you with 30,000 words to fill the gap.**


	26. Chapter 26 - Turning the Tables

**Hey Guys, Long time I know…. And for a change, I'm not going to make excuses, because I have a life beyond writing and I'm not going to apologise for it.**

 **With there still being a bit of time to fill in before the finale this one was difficult to write as I didn't really have much of a plan, but here's what I made of it and I think I managed to push the plot on a little rather than making it another filler so, I hope you enjoy it**.

 **Also, someone got carried away and started the final chapter… and its Scary stuff guys!**

 **SIDE NOTE:** I have been updating and adding a 'previously' recap at the start of each chapter. I have been reading a lot of long fics recently and I realise when they updated that I had to go back a few chapters to regain the storyline… and my chapters are very long.

Previously: _Going through the 'meetings' due to the inhibitors early application has been hell for Tony and is only getting worse. Having been betrayed by Steve, quitting the Avengers and taking himself away with Bruce and Rhodey to Malibu, Tony got dragged back in to fight with the Avengers when they were outmatched. After an incident in the workshop where the CAEB broke through the inhibitor to save his life Tony asked Steve to increase the inhibitor strength when he arrived at the battle, which resulted in an early meeting mid-fight and chaos afterward when Tony's weakness caused Clint to gain a spinal fracture. Tony spirals into a dark place, even after learning Clint didn't blame him and both Clint and Natasha are determined to find out what is wrong with Tony._

 _After a seizure, Bruce convinces Tony to talk to the others and he fills in everyone before going on a bender. After getting a drunk Tony to bed and looking after him the next morning they reach an understanding Steve and he reach an understanding and the team have started to come back together now Tony and Steve have reached an understanding and they are all aware of the issues._

 _Still injured and with the inhibitor on a higher setting He undergoes the worst meeting yet and is left on a ventilator afterwards._

 _Bruce has figured out that all the creatures are coming from the same planet and Thor returns to inform them that they could use Tony's dream, which are premonitions, to give them an early warning for what's coming._

Chapter 26 – Turning the tables 

Clint woke up aching. His head ached his legs ached and his back ached most of all. He'd love to say he was still as optimistic and motivated as he had been when he woke up, but as time wore on and he was hit with the hard reality of how slow progress was. Or that's what it seemed to him anyhow.

He'd only had three days of physical therapy and he was able to make his way along the parallel bars with a lot of effort. In a few days they were hoping he would be able to take less of the weight on his arms and at this rate he would be walking unaided in two weeks. That was do able, of course Clint was patient enough for that, but it was the 2 months on top of that before he would have the strength to start training again.

3 months doing next to nothing was going to have a huge impact on his fitness, so even more time added on getting back to being on his game. At this point he very much felt like calling it a day. How was he ever going to get back to where he had been? It just seemed impossible. Sitting up was an effort. Reaching for a glass of water was an effort. Getting out of bed was an effort and anything beyond that was exhausting.

He thought back to just a week ago, leaping over barriers, jumping between buildings, running, even walking, normally, effortlessly… he would kill to do that again. Everyone kept telling him he was doing really well. But it didn't feel like it and truth be told is was getting more than a bit annoying.

But he really had to stop feeling sorry for himself. He was alive after all. Jumping off a building like that, he couldn't have hoped to get off much more lightly. And compared to Tony, he was in peak condition.

He thought back to the other night when he'd been up to the penthouse and seen the aftermath of what had happened. The guys were fried, then Thor had dropped another Bombshell. But then he'd gone upstairs and seen the man in question. Sure, Tony had looked worse recently, like when Thor had got him out of Asgard but, well, not that much worse.

Clint had wheeled his chair into Tony's room and smiled weakly at Pepper, who barely acknowledged his presence. All of her attention had been focused on Tony as she had gently rearranged a few strands of his hair. Clint imagined She'd done that a fair few times over the last few hours. Tony may no longer have been attached to the ventilator, but it and a whole host of other machines had been littering his room and drawing out the beating of his heart. He'd looked fragile; pale, gaunt and oh so still. Even unconscious he had looked defeated, but despite that he'd not given up breathing, regardless of the fact they'd taken many attempts to restart his heart.

So, Clint knew he couldn't give up. What Clint had been through was bad, no doubt about that, but if Tony Stark could make it through all of what he had over the past 6 months, then he could sure as hell learn to walk again.

Clint was suddenly startled out of his train of thought by faint knocking on his door.

"Yeah?" Clint answered, shuffling himself

His door opened and shut quickly. A mess of dark brown hair and dark clothes shuffled into his room and plonked itself on the chair next to his bed.

"Tony? What the hell you doing here?"

"Bored. They've all got me on lockdown."

"So, you think hiding here is a good idea?"

"Less obvious than the lab, which they've got locked down too, I tried but Jarvis is denying access."

"Should you even be out of Bed?"

"Well I made it here fine, didn't I?"

"I could probably walk to the elevator by grabbing onto stuff, doesn't make it a good idea."

"Yeah well, I'm here now." Tony sighed and Clint noticed he still looked a little pale and shaken. He was fairly certain he hadn't recovered enough and his breathing was a little elevated. Clint felt for his phone under his pillow and contemplated sending a text to Bruce. He'd give them 10minutes to find him. Jarvis would always dob him in anyway.

"How is the walking going by the way?" Tony asked tentatively.

"It sucks to be honest. In my head I feel like I could just get up and go parkour through the city, but my legs… I just… I don't know if or how I'm ever going to get it all back. I just can't see a way you know?"

"I'm so sorry Clint." Tony bowed his head and looked away a little, his stoic mask unusually cracking a little, letting grief and guilt bleed through the cracks.

"No, Tony come on, don't start this again. I didn't tell you all this to make you feel guilty. I told you because, well I need to tell someone and you're my friend. One of my best friend's Tony."

Tony looked up but his face showed very little.

"I don't blame you. Not in the slightest and you know that, right?"

"Yes, Clint I know."

"But you still blame yourself."

"Of course, I do, it was my fault." Tony said adamantly and Clint huffed, trying not to get annoyed.

"Why? Was it because you tried to protect the city at your own expense by upping the inhibitor? Or was it because we dragged you into a battle you shouldn't have been in because we couldn't cope without you."

"If I'd have told you what was going on, If I'd been honest with you all…"

"And what reason had we given you to trust us Tony? We pushed you away, sold you out…"

"That wasn't you Clint."

"OK, let's just… Let me put this a different way. You feel like a burden, like everything that has happened is one way or another your fault. Well, let me tell you something Tony Stark. Five minutes before you walked in here I'd given up. On life Tony, on everything. You want to know what changed my mind?"

Tony just stared.

"You did Tony. I thought about all the shit you have been through and I realised that this…" Clint gestured at his legs. "This is nothing, I was lucky. As much as this whole CAEB thing has threatened to tear us all apart Tony, its held us together. You have held us together. You're holding _me_ together."

There was a rather long silence in which Tony didn't make a move to speak.

"Did I render the great Tony Stark speechless?" Clint chuckled a little to break the quiet.

"I believe you did feathers." Tony smiled a genuine smile. It had been a long time since Clint had seen that and it was fucking awesome.

"Well you don't need to say anything Tony. Just believe it. Ok? Or at least try to."

Tony smiled again, a little more weakly this time, but it was still genuine rather than forced. The silence lingered on a little more before Clint was again the one to break it.

"So… You talked to Thor yet?"

"Goldilocks is back?"

"Yeah, came back Friday night after your… meeting."

"Right. What day is it again?"

"Sunday, I think."

"Two days later Sunday?"

"Yes Tony. I'm guessing this means you've only just woken up."

"Yeah, I mean, I was awake a couple of times, but just woke up properly earlier."

"Tony, why are you down here?" Clint knew that even for Tony, a couple of hours awake and under lockdown was not long enough for him to feel the need to make a great escape. Something else was eating him.

"Just… thinking out a problem. Needed some space."

"You know they say a problem shared…"

"Yeah Clint, but… its just… I've got a decision to make and…"

"You need to figure this out for yourself."

Tony nodded. He was growing paler and there was a slight quiver to his frame now. In fact, there was a blue tinge growing into his lips.

"Tony…" Clint started, but for once Tony was ahead of him.

"J, can you call Bruce down."

"On his way Sir."

"Tony, you ok?" Clint had painfully shuffled his way to the edge of the bed so he could put his hand on Tony's shoulder.

"Not really, but I'm sure I will be."

"Yeah, but how long is it till the next one?"

"67 hours with level 7 predicted severity." Said the voice in the ceiling. Tony was now too breathless to say anything.

"Level 7?"

"Dr. Banner improved the monitoring algorithm to incorporate predicted severity of the meetings. The scale was set with level 10 being the most recent event and level 1 being equal to the first occurrence."

"So, its dropped off a bit?"

"Now that the inhibitor strength has been restored to its original setting, the effect is beginning to lessen, but it will increase again once it has balanced."

"Tony, you imbecile, why did you run off this time?" Bruce stormed a little angrily into Clint's med bay room and strapped an oxygen mask over Tony's face before he could answer. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Sorry." Tony said, voice muffled under the mask.

"I didn't even realise you'd gone, what if you'd collapsed half way down here?"

"Bruce, take it easy, he was the one that told Jarvis to call you, so he deserves a pat on the back for once."

"Really?" Bruce said sceptically.

Tony nodded. "Why can't I breathe?" he mumbled under the mask.

"The last meeting really did a number on you Tony."

"I felt that." Tony grumbled.

"Stop talking. Focus on breathing." Bruce ordered. "Your red blood cell count is through the floor, your sats are 85, you need to rest."

"Fine, I'll rest here." Tony moved a hand to his face but was stopped by Bruce.

"Tony keep that mask on please."

"I will, just get Steve to drag a bed in here and I'll keep feathers company."

"Tony it's 3:30, in the morning, Steve isn't going to be awake. You both should be resting, not having a girly sleep over."

"But I wanted to braid Tony's hair!" Clint whined.

There was another knock on the door.

"Come in." Clint called. "Gosh I'm popular this morning.

"Hi Clint, Bruce I couldn't find… Ah Tony."

"Great Steve, now you're here, do you mind dragging another bed in here please." Tony said muffled through the mask.

"Yeah, sure… ermm, Bruce is that ok?" Steve asked, astounded by Tony's directness and the faint look of exasperation on Bruce's face.

"Yeah, fine, just the pair of you, get some rest and don't make me come down here again."

"Sure Brucie." Tony mumbled.

"I told you to stop talking."

Tony held up his hands in apology as Steve dragged in another bed. Bruce and Steve helped Tony settle and when they were convinced the pair would rest they left them be.

….

"Hey Clint?" Tony sat up after a few hours of sleep and pulled the mask off his face. Clint had been awake for a while too now, the natural light bleeding in through the window forced them both wide awake and there was no way they would sleep now.

"Tony, you shouldn't have that mask off."

"Look, the little machine says sats 95, I'd say that's fine to talk."

"Ok, but if that drops…"

"Jesus birdbrain, your turning into Bruce, you're supposed to be on my side."

"Fine, but if you suffocate don't blame me."

Tony scoffed but it turned into a chuckle.

"Anyway, I was thinking… You don't need to be stuck down here, I could have your floor set up for your rehab, then you're not marooned down here all day and its just your legs that are screwed so you can still do pull ups and shit, so I can modify the gym and your bow, set up the shooting range… that way you can stay strong and its only your legs you have to worry about… God, I could make a whole set of VR scenarios for training when you're walking again and…

"Woah Stark!" Clint chuckled. "This all sounds great, I mean it I would love that, but you're in no state to be doing all that right now."

"It wouldn't take much effort, just some planning and coding and Jarvis can sort the rest."

"92." Clint warned.

"What?"

"The sats reading is down to 92."

"Right" Tony huffed, but didn't complain. "Pass me that Stark pad." Tony said, annoyedly grabbing the oxygen mask and putting it back on his face. Clint obliged shuffling across his bed to reach it, then back to the other edge to pass it to Tony.

"What time is it?" Clint asked.

"8:36am Agent Barton." Jarvis responded.

"Ughhh. 24 minutes till the asshole nurse comes back for my rehab session."

"I better go up and see what Thor wants." Tony mumbled, hands flying across the screen of the tablet, mind whirring away Clint warned.

"When do I ever? Going give me heads up?"

"Nah, I don't want to be the messenger who gets shot." Clint laughed.

"Fine." Tony said dispassionately. He had to admit he really wasn't feeling very good and his temper was short "J, who's awake?"

"Miss Potts is working. Captain Rogers has just returned from his run. Ms. Romanov is training, Dr. Banner is asleep on the sofa and Colonel Rhodes is having a heated conversation with Mr. Odinson."

"Right, get Steve down here then."

"I hear you and Steve made up. Not what I was expecting." Clint murmured.

"Yeah, kind of. To be honest I'm just too tired to fight with any of you and he apologised, so I would have been kind of ass not to give him another chance."

"Since when have you been afraid of being an ass."

"Hey. Watch it feathers." Tony cautioned, but there was a smile in his eyes.

Clint chuckled.

"Tony?" Steve asked, looking in the door. "You both ok? What do you need?"

"We're fine and you… take this." Tony handed him an oxygen tank attached to his mask. "And then give me a hand up."

"Ermm, why?"

"We're going upstairs."

"Why?"

"Because I hear pointbreak is back and you lot have been talking behind my back."

Steve looked at Clint a little in annoyance. "Tony, it wasn't like that, you were unconscious at the time and we were waiting till you were recovered."

"Relax Rogers, I know, I'm messing with you. But I'm recovered enough now so… Let's go."

"I don't know, what did Bruce say about you walking?"

"That's why you're here, just catch me if I fall over ok?"

"Tony."

"Relax Steve, I was in worse shape earlier and I made it down here, this time it will be easy."

…

The elevator door slid open and Tony could immediately hear the urgent and slightly argumentative voices of Thor and Rhodey conversing, they both stopped and looked at him when he walked into the room.

"You boy's fighting over me again." Tony chuckled as he ignored Steve's hand offering something to hold onto and headed straight for the sofa, where Bruce was somehow still asleep despite the noise.

"Tony, what the hell are you doing up?" Rhodes demanded.

"I made my escape at 3am, don't worry, Bruce found me and gave me a telling off." Tony sat down, or more accurately collapsed on the sofa, the movement of which jostled Bruce awake.

"What? Tony?" Bruce blinked with bleary eyes.

"I hear Thor has a proposition for me?" Tony gestured to the man in question.

"Ermm, yes I do, but we had decided to wait till you had recovered Stark."

"Yes, and I have recovered so spill." Tony said with a bite in his tone.

Thor looked back and forward between the others in the room who seemed to all be waiting on him so he began.

"Well, I have returned from Asgard to give you an update and some forewarning. I have been kept up to date with what has happened since I left by Heimdall."

"Is he that all seeing one that came and helped us with the destroyer?" Rhodey asked.

"Yes, that is he." Thor confirmed with a nod.

"First thing you need to know Tony is that all the creatures we have encountered, including those craft we called you in to fight have the same planetary origin." Bruce interrupted.

"Yes, I saw Jarvis' analysis… I'm guessing this isn't a good thing."

"No, there is must legend surrounding this planet, though until these events it was thought to be just that. The final craft you encountered and the species which piloted them are thought to be slave to a much more powerful race."

"More powerful. Brilliant and I guess they are coming next? All of this so far has been a test, data gathering?"

"It would seem likely. These creatures will be far beyond the Chitauri you faced and to Earth's defences and even our avengers team they are an insurmountable enemy. Asgard's forces will fight alongside you, yet it would be useful to have some idea of how events will unfold."

"What do you mean?" Tony asked suspiciously, but before Thor could finish he spoke again. "Those nightmares aren't nightmares, are they?"

"No, we believe them to be premonitions."

"So, what do you want me to do about it? They stopped progressing after I put the inhibitor on, all I see is the city in bits and a load of screaming people, it's not exactly helpful."

"We thought," Bruce began, "that if we decreased the inhibitor strength then you might be able to see something more useful."

"And cause another earthquake? Another city-wide blackout?"

"Tony, obviously we know that this isn't ideal." Rhodey said and instantly regretted his choice of words.

"Isn't ideal… oh Rhodey, Rhodey, Rhodey…"

"Friend Stark, I hate to even suggest this, especially when you are not well."

"No, Thor, this is great! So, I'm some sort of psychic freak alongside everything else and despite knowing what happens when I don't suppress the CAEB you want me to turn down the inhibitor so I can be your early warning radar!" This was too much. Deep down Tony knew he was overreacting, but his head was pounding, his stomach rolling with nausea and he just couldn't deal with this on top of everything else right now.

"Anything else I should know about?" He yelled to the stunned room.

"Actually, there is." Thor stated.

"No, there isn't, that was rhetorical!" Tony yelped.

"Ok, let's just calm down before your sats go through the floor please. Maybe we should just take a break, let what's happened so far sink in." Bruce reasoned., trying to press the oxygen mask to Tony's face but the man pushed him away.

"No, please do continue Goldilocks, the suspense is killing me."

Thor looked around a little unsure, Tony's sarcasm often confused him and he was unsure whether Dr. Banner's request was a suggestion or an order, since humans were not always so clear.

"Go on, let's get this done." Steve gave the go ahead.

"I did not tell you these earlier comrades as it slipped my mind, but it is very relevant at this juncture. There is a prophecy associated with the CAEB that I learned of on Asgard."

"Oh great! So, I'm both prophet and prophecy… you couldn't write this shit." Tony exclaimed.

"Tony." Rhodey scolded. "Shut up and listen."

Tony rolled his eyes and huffed, waving at Thor to continue.

"Well, it is said that when the CAEB has merged with being, such as is the case with you, then that being is the only one capable of saving the universe. I believe that this must relate to current events. I believe that the current events must be connected with this prophecy and I believe that we will need Stark, or more accurately the part of him which is the CAEB to triumph in this battle."

"Wow." Tony said. "No pressure then." Tony just didn't know what to think. "Looks like you're the prophet Brucie, you said that maybe this whole CAEB thing had a purpose."

"Tony, I didn't want to be right." Bruce said, eyes filled with pain.

"Goldilocks, would you pass me that trash can, please."

Thor frowned and pointed questioningly at the one by his feet.

"Yep, that one, quick as you like." Tony urged Thor on with his becoming hand and the demi-God moved quickly.

As soon as the item was in his hand Tony lurched forward without warning, retching painfully as the contents of his stomach emptied themselves.

"Jesus Tony." Rhodey was knelt by him in an instant, with Bruce's supporting hand on his back. As Tony continued to retch for a number of minutes, Bruce put a testing hand to Tony's forehead and his eyes scrutinised his oxygen saturation which was at a steady 90%. Tony's skin was burning under his palm and it took Bruce by surprise.

Finally, Tony sat up to signal that he thought he was finished, but instead of lolling back in the chair like they'd expected, Tony suddenly stood up and started walking away.

"Hey Tony!" Bruce tried to grab the Engineers arm, but Tony shrugged away quickly.

"Look, I'm going to my room, I need some time for this to sink in."

"Tony, you can't just walk off by yourself in this state." Rhodey reminded him.

"Look, I just need some space, is that ok with everyone!" Tony's voice rose to a yell and suddenly he was panting a little too much. "I'm sorry." He said and turned to leave as quickly as he could.

"Let him go." Steve said, pushing back on Rhodey's shoulder to stop him following. "I'll make sure he's ok, you need to go get some fresh air and a shower."

"Fine." Rhodey nodded. Steve was right. He hadn't been outside in days and he really did stink.

"Bruce, go back to bed. You look exhausted."

Steve walked up alongside Tony much to the Engineers annoyance.

"Steve, I mean it…"

"I know Tony but look, I'm just making sure you get to your room in one piece, then I'll leave you alone. Deal."

"Yeah fine." Tony grumbled and the elevator door slid closed.

…

A few hours after storming out Tony was nudged out of sleep by a knock on the door.

"What?" He asked, annoyance biting into his tone.

"I was going to ask if you'd brightened up yet, but clearly not." Steve stepped casually into the room.

"I thought you said you'd leave me alone."

"Well my apologies for being worried about you Tony. You were pretty sick earlier, and I thought you'd rather it be me than Bruce or Rhodey who'd fuss over you like a child, I know how much you hate that."

Tony sighed, letting logic take over the pain induced irritably and relaxed a little.

"Look I'm sorry Steve, I just feel like I slept inside a tumble drier and I really can't deal with anymore of this shit right now."

"I get it Tony, I really do and I'm sorry. This is why we wanted to wait until you were recovered enough."

"I know, but, I'm going to have to make this decision sooner rather than later."

"We had a chat upstairs when Natasha finished training and well… Tony, you know this CAEB thing better than any of us. It's you that's living this, if you think it's too dangerous to lower the inhibitor then that's fine, or if you want to try this, that's up to you." Steve sighed. "What I'm trying to say is the decision is yours and yours alone, we trust your judgement and we just ask you tell us when you've made it and before you act on it ok?"

"I've got it and Cheers Steve." Tony forced a smile. "It means a lot, honestly."

"Ok, I'll leave you be now, but Tony, as much as you hate the fuss brigade do you want me to get Bruce now. You're looking worse than earlier and there's no need for you to suffer unnecessarily?"

Steve was right. Tony did feel worse and to be honest he would kill for some painkillers or even a sedative right now.

"If you could get him that would be great."

"Sure thing." Steve nodded.

It wasn't long before Jarvis had calculated the sedative dose, Bruce was flicking a needle and Tony drifted off into a pain free, peaceful rest until the next morning.

…..

Clint rolled his chair out of the lift and felt the resistance build as the smooth floor changed to carpet causing him to squeeze the wheel rims and push a little harder. He was taken aback by what he saw.

Tony had texted him just before his physio session saying that there would be a surprise for him on his floor after his session. Clint was so tired afterwards, frustrated with his little progress and a little annoyed as a result of Tony's inconsiderate timing that he nearly hadn't left the medical wing and made the arduous journey to the lift, but he suddenly felt his anger and tiredness relieved as he saw what was in front of him.

Tony had outdone himself this time. It hadn't been a day since Tony had aired his potential plans for improving Clint's space and get him back up living with the team and it seemed like every little thing had been thought through.

Much of the furniture had been moved to make it wider for his chair, rugs and other trip hazards had been removed and there were plenty of bars around to hold onto for support once he got up and walking a bit more. The bed had been lowered, there was a modified bow waiting on the kitchenette table that he could use in his chair and all the promised gym equipment. It meant he would be able to manage everything himself and it meant the world.

"No excuses no Barton." He mumbled to himself and he pulled out his cell.

 _Clint: Tony, this is awesome, I can't thank you enough man. How did you get all this done in a day?_

 _Tony: No need feathers, anything to get you back up and running. You can get anything done in a day if you pay enough._

 _Clint smiled. Tony cared about them all so much and even if he never said it when he did things like this, he more than showed it._

 _Clint: I hope u haven't overdone it getting this sorted._

 _Tony: Haven't left bed all day, ask Steve._

 _Clint: Oh trust me I will. Thank you Tony._

…

Tony was sat in his room. He had been mulling this all over for some time. He had 30 hours left. 30 hours till he had to face a level 7 event. Yes, the last one had been level 10, but he was still recovering. Even with the CAEB healing him the damage had been done. He was sick, weak and shaky. His RBC count was rising slowly but his immune system was shot and he still needed oxygen after walking from his room to the elevator and to the couch, which was about all he was capable of right now. A Level 7 meeting would be the second worst meeting he'd experienced so far. The one in the warehouse had been a 6.2 according to the data. He didn't know if he could go through that again. But he didn't have a choice. Or did he?

He hadn't been allowed in the lab, he should have been stir crazy but he was just exhausted all the time. He was quite happy just to lay in bed, or on the couch with the Stark pad, running through some stuff for R&D or catching up on repairs. But he kept finding himself back with the Avengers weapons files. If something big was coming, this was the time to get innovative and boy did he have some ideas, especially for Clint.

He knew that Hawkeye would be there fighting when the time came, whether he was ready or not. In two weeks he would be walking, but being battle ready was at least 4 months away. Tony was a robotics king however, he could fix it so that Clint wouldn't just be walking, but keeping up with Steve.

Rhodey's armour hadn't had an upgrade in forever, whether she liked it or not, Natasha needed some sort of armour, as would Steve. And he was sure he could improve all of their weapons one way or another.

If there was one thing Clint's incident had taught him it was that there was a major flaw in all their thinking. Whether it be Clint or Natasha, and occasionally even Steve, the lot of them were far too happy leaping off buildings and expecting someone to catch them, be it Tony or the Hulk. Of course, it had been an accident waiting to happen and Tony needed a way of making sure they could get themselves out of similar situations without making a leap of faith.

He had a few ideas and he hastily scribbled them all down, but he still had the decision to make, one he'd been mulling over ever since his talk with Bruce about being dragged across the one-yard line. Maybe he would make it through the next meeting and that would be touch and go… But what about the next one. Unless this battle was very, very soon and he hoped for all their sakes it wasn't, he wasn't going to make it and that left him with two options. Lower the inhibitor setting or, maybe, disengage it completely.

Just the thought made him nervous, but it was the only logical choice he faced. If they wanted this early warning system Thor had described they had to lower the setting, probably by a lot. His powers would bleed through... There were so many factors to consider. Too many. He needed help and he knew just who to go to.

….

"Hey Tony, what's up?" Tony walked wearily into Clint's room closely followed by Natasha and to Clint's surprise Thor. "Guys… What are you all doing here?"

"Sorry to crowd you Clint, I just wanted to discuss something with you three."

"Ok? What's up?" Clint repeated. Sitting up gently.

"Look guys, I have a decision to make about the inhibitor and this early warning Thor suggested."

"Tony, why aren't the others here?" Natasha cut in abruptly.

"Bruce, Pepper and Rhodey, they all worry about me too much and Steve thinks only in worse case scenarios. Tash, you always take the objective view, Clint your instincts are always right and Thor, you probably know the most about this of all of us, so I need your advice."

"Tony, I'm not particularly comfortable about doing whatever _this_ is without the others. We've promised time and time again that we won't keep going behind each other's backs and every time we do it ends badly. Usually for you." Natasha said, sternly, expecting the conversation to go no farther.

"At the end of the day you all agreed this was my decision, right? And I'm not making it right now, I'm just asking for advice. I'm allowed to choose who I go to for advice aren't I?"

"Yes, but…" Natasha started.

"Guy's, I'm trying to be objective, this is probably the first and last meaningful decision I will ever make and I am asking for your help, as friends. So, will you help me?" Tony pleaded.

"Of course, we will friend Stark." Thor didn't hesitate.

"We've got your back tin can."

"Of course, Tony, just promise you'll fill everyone in when you make the decision."

"Thank you, guys. And I will Tash, I promise." Tony smiled and took a few breaths of oxygen before continuing. "The way I see it guys, is that I have a decent chance of surviving the meeting tomorrow, but I'm weak now and it will only make me worse. The next meeting will be higher severity and leave me less time to recover… Maybe I survive that, but we're in the end game here."

"These things will kill you sooner rather than later." Clint clarified.

"Exactly. Now for Thor's proposal I would need to lower the inhibitor, which would not only give us the early warning, but make the meetings less severe and less often… In essence, it will give me more time."

"But we'd also have to worry about what used to happen when you had nightmares." Natasha reminded.

"Yes, I was thinking about that and I might have a solution. But whichever way you look at it, lowering the inhibitor setting is the best idea."

"Stark, it sounds like you've already made up your mind. Why do you require our council?" Thor asked.

"Because I have a third option." Tony said plainly and paused while he took another few breaths.

"Which is?" Clint pushed, when the pause went on longer than his liking.

"Which is, and don't freak out… that I disengage the inhibitor completely."

There was a stunned silence.

"Ermm Tony…" Natasha started.

"I know, I know it seems mad, but there is method to it. We all know how little control I had over my powers before the inhibitor, despite all that training. If we are going into battle soon and I apparently am the key ingredient to our success, walking in with no control is not the best idea."

"You want to try get a handle on it again?" Clint asked a little shocked.

"Yes."

"That's a brave move Stark, but what makes you think this time will be any different."

"I don't know Tash, I really don't. Maybe because this time I have to get it right, or we all die. I will have the inhibitor still implanted, just disengaged, if anything goes wrong we stick it back on."

"Won't that hurt?"

"Yes, but it's not like a meeting. I can deal with that."

"Couldn't we turn the inhibitor down bit by bit and let you get used to the CAEB's powers gradually?"

"I had considered it." Tony admitted. "But there were two issues. The first is that, we may not have time for that. The second, is that when the CAEB broke through and saved me from death by screwdriver it burned like hell and the inhibitor majorly overheated. I don't think that tapping the CAEB with the inhibitor on is a good idea."

"Well, I agree with your assessment of the others. Steve would be highly concerned with the risk, Bruce, Rhodes and Pepper are going to be worried about the strain on you… Last time you overtaxed yourself you nearly died after all." Natasha reasoned.

"And that's half the point. If holding the shield nearly killed me and we are facing something huge then I need to be stronger than that." Tony. "The question is, what do you three think?"

"I am intrigued to know of the thing you mentioned earlier when you said you may have a solution to the chaos that your nightmares have caused previously.

"Well, I may be able to dampen a room, or maybe even the whole floor so it works in a similar way to the inhibitor. A kind of counteraction, a signal canceller so the CAEB energy signature couldn't affect anything outside the room. That way no one would be at risk."

"If you could achieve this Stark I would highly support your plan."

"Obviously there is a tonne that could go wrong, but I feel like it's the best option we've got." Clint added his thoughts.

"How confident are you this… dampening would work?" Natasha asked.

"It's me, if I can build it, it will work… but right now I need to do some digging to find out if its actually possible."

"When you've got that sorted, I say do it Stark, but I think we should have the failsafe in place first, clearly." Natasha offered.

"That's where we hit a bit of a problem."

"Why?" Natasha asked.

"Because A) I don't know if I'm going to make it through the next meeting and B) If I do, I may not have enough time before the next one, where I'm well enough to work on this."

"So, you want to do this today?" Clint asked in shock, eyes widening at the speed events were moving.

"Ideally, in the next few hours."

"If you wait any longer, you might enter a vicious cycle with these so-called meetings and potentially die before you can help." Thor stated.

"Bang on pointbreak, bang on."

"Well I think you better get Bruce to unlock the lab again. You've got work to do." Natasha put a hand on Tony's shoulder and then helped him to his feet.

…

"Woah, hang on a minute… You're doing this now." Pepper was shocked and exasperated. She'd just come home to the news "Have you thought this through, will it hurt, could you die?"

"Not now, in a few hours. We're going to sit down and talk about this, figure everything out, but I have to do it soon Pep."

"I'm not sure this is a good idea." Bruce said warily.

"I'm certain it's not, its mad, its fucking insane Tony… have you forgotten why you made that damn thing in the first place?"

"Rhodey, look, just calm down sit down and let me explain. Believe it or not I have thought this through, in detail for over a week now and, well, it's our best option."

"What about your best option Tony?" Bruce asked.

"That too."

Bruce frowned disbelievingly.

"No, honestly Bruce, it is truthfully my best option. Guy's tell them."

"Man of Iron indeed has sound logic in his decision and speaks the truth." Thor confirmed.

"Don't you start, it was your hairbrained plan in the first place that suggested Tony screw with the inhibitor for your early warning system." Rhodey yelled.

"Colonel Rhodes, I understand from our earlier conversation that we don't see eye to eye on this issue, however you did agree that decision would be Stark's and you would respect it, however you currently appear to be doing the opposite of your word."

"That decision was to turn it down, not turn it off completely!" Rhodey roared.

"Rhodey, cut it out and chill, everyone just sit down, shut up and listen, because I can't talk much longer without going into oxygen debt." Tony shouted and panted after his words to add effect.

The threat of Tony's ill health had its desired effect and everyone sat down and listened while Tony thoroughly explained his reasoning and his fail safes.

"Well." Rhodey said finally, "even I can't argue with your logic Tones. So, you want to do this thing tonight."

"I have less than 30 hours left before the meeting, ideally I'd like to do it before we hit 24 to go."

"What will happen when you disengage it?" Steve asked, speaking for the first time in the chaotic discussion.

"I imagine it will be like the start of a meeting… it will burn like hell but it shouldn't be anything to extreme."

"Fine. I'm ok with it." Pepper said a little sadly. She was worried sick, understandably. Tony had been through enough, but it seemed that the world hadn't finished asking him for more yet.

"Everyone agreed?" Natasha asked

There was a murmur of agreement in the room.

"Great." Clint exclaimed. "Tony, you hungry?"

"Hungry? Why?"

"Can you eat, you were throwing up the other day." Clint asked without explaining further, picking up the phone and typing some numbers.

"Yeah, I think I'm ok to eat."

"Fine, Burgers for lunch coming up."

Clint dialled the takeout restaurant and the others threw their orders at him as he spoke to the guy on the other end of the line.

….

Tony punched in his code on the lab door. The tension hung thick in the air.

"I don't know why you guys all followed me down here. I'm not letting you in here while I do this. Not when something could go wrong."

"Tony, you can lock yourself in the meeting room, but we'll wait for you in the lab. No arguments." Steve said.

"Fine. The door will unlock when it's complete. Everything set J?"

"Everything had been prepared as you requested sir."

"Thanks buddy." Tony said fondly.

Tony made his way the door of the meeting room but was stopped by a slender hand taking a gentle hold of his wrist.

"Please be careful Tony." Pepper said softly into his ear, pressing a firm kiss to his cheek. "I love you." She let go and took a step back.

"It's going to be fine Pep and I love you too."

The blast door slid closed and all they could do was wait.

 **Thanks for your patience guys, there will be shorter but hopefully regular chapters until I get my writing legs back. Though 7K aint bad, is it?**

 **Didn't have a huge amount of time to proof read this so I'm sorry if it's a bit erroneous.**


	27. Chapter 27- Second Attempts

**Thought it's about time things went right for Tony… AT least for a little while. Sorry this one took a while to write, I realised half way through that half the stuff would have to go into a second chapter or it would end up monumentally long and never get finished!**

 **So, sorry for the wait. Hope it was worth it.**

Previously: _Going through the 'meetings' has been nothing but hell and they have been getting progressively worse. Tony gets dragged back into a fight when the avengers are outmatched. Tony asks Steve to turn up the inhibitor before the battle which leads to him suffering a mid-battle meeting and Clint gaining a spinal injury._

 _Tony blames himself for Clint's injury and spirals into a dark place, even after learning Clint didn't blame him. It is evident to both spies on the team that there is something wrong with Tony and Bruce convinces him to fill in the team._

 _After a hugely bad meeting brought on by the high inhibitor setting Tony is left on a ventilator as Thor returns. Bruce informs the team that all the creatures are coming from the same planet and Thor says that they could use Tony's dreams, which are premonitions, to give them an early warning for what's coming._

 _They establish that Tony has not been having dreams since the inhibitor went on apart from the night before after a meeting. Unsure if he will survive the next meeting and knowing that if he does he will be entering a downward spiral Tony makes the decision to disengage the inhibitor and try again to learn to use his powers._

The blast door slid closed and all they could do was wait.

Chapter 27- Second attempts

Tony's head was burning from the inside out. The searing pain had him crunched in a ball on the floor, nails digging into his temples and fingers tearing at his hair. He took deep breaths, forcing himself to relax and wait it out. It had been a long time since he and the CAEB had been acquainted so he supposed it would take time. But it wasn't going away.

He tried to crack open his eyes but what he saw was not normal, a mass of colours and the noise was deafening, like he was picking up all the different frequencies. Had this happened last time? HE couldn't quite remember, he forced himself to think back to when he'd first woken up after merging with the CAEB the first time. He'd heard voices, seen things, things he couldn't make sense of. Focus, he needed to focus. Break it down, bring himself back down to Earth.

Right, so Bruce, Rhodey, Pepper, Tash, Steve… they were all outside the room. He didn't think he'd blown anything up disengaging the inhibitor and it must have been over a minute with him laid here, that meant the door to the meeting room should have opened… someone would be in here with him to check it had gone ok.

OK, so he had to focus it down. They'd be talking to him. He listened for a familiar voice. It took a while but he could make something out in the background, buried deep in the cacophony of strange sounds. It was muffled, but the more he focused on it the clearer it became. It was a voice, and a familiar one at that. Bruce. It was Bruce.

"Tony, Tony can you hear me?"

Tony tried to grunt out a yes, but he could feel it had come out garbled even if he couldn't hear his own voice.

There was something else, Bruce was still talking. There were other voices drowning him out though, he knew they shouldn't be, there weren't in English, he doubted they were in any earth language, yet he still understood little snippets that came through louder than the others. Mainly cries for help. He had to get the focus back, he felt himself being dragged away from the small grounding he'd just found.

"Keep talking Bruce, I'm not there yet." Tony rasped. He wasn't sure if Bruce heard, or someone, something completely different did. Maybe he hadn't said anything at all, he could only hope.

There it was again. Bruce's voice. "Ok, Tony, can you tell me what's happening?"

"Just keep Talking."

"OK Tony, I'll keep talking." Bruce seemed to hesitate and there was another voice in the background. His focus split and things got blurry again.

"No, just Bruce... There's too many." Tony tried not to whine, but he wasn't certain he'd achieved it.

"Tony, what's going on? What can I do."

"Just keep talking, please."

"Sure thing. Ermmm… Just stay with me, or come back to us, or whatever it is you are trying to do?"

Each word was becoming clearer, but Tony could tell Bruce felt awkward and was running out of things to say.

"I'm guessing this means it worked then?" Bruce continued and Tony felt a slight breeze brush against his head, followed by a numb sensation. Was someone touching him. Then there was a sharp sensation as something brushed against the inhibitor.

Suddenly everything snapped back into place and Tony felt like he was thrown back into the world. He sucked in a deep breath as his eyes burned with the onslaught of bright light.

"Woah, shit that was weird." Tony hissed rubbing his eyes, blinking rapidly.

"Tony what happened?" Pepper's voice. Pepper was there. And Rhodey was too. His vision was now in sharp focus, a little too sharp. He tried to push himself to his feet, but felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Easy…" Steve came into view, he'd clearly been crouched behind him.

"Chill Steve I'm good."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Tony nodded sincerely. The super-soldier offered him a hand anyway and he gratefully accepted. He was hauled a little suddenly to his feet which made the room spin. "Easy there Steve, nought to sixty, I can handle, nought to a hundred not so much."

"Sorry. You good if I let go?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Feel like you might blow something up?" Clint asked tentatively?

"Not particularly. But I'm fairly certain I could if I wanted to feathers."

"Not comforting Stark." Natasha said sternly.

"Well wasn't that the point in me doing this?"

Natasha conceded.

"Ok, let's get you upstairs and you're going to tell us why we found you on the floor half out of it." Bruce ordered.

….

The door opened not long after Tony had disappeared. They waited a few seconds for the man in question to come out. But he didn't.

Steve and Thor led the way, the more robust of the team, but everyone followed closely. Caution overtook the instinct to run to their friend, but that was soon reversed again when they saw Tony on the floor, curled up on his side and clutching at his head.

No matter what they did or said they couldn't get a response. Steve crouched behind him, trying to get him to stretch out so they could see his face and Bruce could try to find out what was going on.

"Tony, Tony can you hear me?" Bruce tried again

"Yemnghh" That was good enough for Bruce as he smiled.

"Hey Buddy, can you tell me what's going on?"

There was no answer, Tony just blinked, opening his eyes a few times but they didn't seem to be focused.

"Tony? You still there?"

"Keep talking Bruce, I'm not there yet." A rasping voice came clear but quiet. His shoulders had started to relax and his arms slowly opened to reveal his face. Bruce could tell he still wasn't aware of much, but he seemed to be getting there.

"Ok, Tony, can you tell me what's happening?"

"Just keep Talking."

"OK Tony, I'll keep talking." Bruce stopped for a moment, for a change he couldn't actually think of what to say.

"Tony, what do you mean you're not there yet?" Pepper asked gently.

"No, just Bruce... There's too many." Tony's voice came out as a whimper. His fingers tightened suddenly into his hair and he drew his knees back up to his chest violently. Tony tried not to whine, but he wasn't certain he'd achieved it. Pepper looked hurt and Bruce sent her a sympathetic look.

Bruce felt his insides coil as Tony withdrew again. "Tony, what's going on? What can I do."

"Just keep talking, please."

"Sure thing. Ermmm… Just stay with me, or come back to us, or whatever it is you are trying to do?"

Tony started to relax out again. His eyes staying open longer between each blink.

"I'm guessing this means it worked then?" Bruce continued, though he wasn't total sure. Tony seemed to be trying to fight his way back to them, he was using Bruce's voice as an anchor. Bruce ran his fingers lightly through Tony's hair, hoping that touch would help with the process. He earned a slight quiver for his efforts, but he wanted to be sure that the inhibitor had fully disengaged. He gently pulled Tony's head towards him so he could see the back of his neck. His fingertip ghosted over the inhibitor and suddenly Tony jerked and hissed.

Bruce backed off his stomach dropping. Had he hurt him? But Tony's eyes finally snapped open. He released his head and sucked in a deep breath. Minutes later he was on his feet and in the elevator on their way back up to the communal floor.

"So… What happened Stark."

"It's hard to explain… it burnt, a lot, like I expected. And like last time, it felt like I was everywhere at once… and I mean everywhere. I could see things, hear thousands of voices in my head, in languages I can't speak, yet I understood all of it. But it was too much."

"You needed to focus it down."

"Yeah, I heard your voice and just tried to hold onto it. It brought me back."

"What brought you back the first time?"

"It was you Pep… I was searching for you. You were in the car on your way here."

"Why did you never tell us this."

"I'd just got back from Asgard. There were other things on my mind."

"Didn't you think that your first experiences of the CAEB may have helped in controlling it?"

"No, it never crossed my mind and I still don't see how it could help." Tony frowned. How could seeing different expanses of space and voices fighting in his head for attention help give him anything other than a terrific migraine.

"Well, it's too much isn't it? Too much going on in your head when you woke up, too much when you try to use your powers?" Natasha probed.

"That's a way of thinking about it I suppose, but we tried to start small and it didn't work." Tony reminded her.

"How do we know that's small though? We just started with what we knew you could do, moving things, breaking things, Shielding… Maybe they aren't the small things for you. Maybe you should try what comes naturally rather than force it." Natasha offered.

"How do I let it come naturally… wait till I have another nightmare?" Tony started to look a little irate so Natasha quickly corrected her statement.

"That's not what I mean Tony… I mean, just let you mind wander, just completely and utterly relax and see if anything happens."

"You don't have to think about it when you walk… you just do it… you only have to really focus on something when its hard, like when you're forcing yourself to keep going in the last few miles of a run." Steve offered.

"I can't really relate to the running analogy spangles, but I guess that makes sense."

"Whatever happens we're not having any more of those goddamn training sessions."

"Language Bruce."

Tony and Clint sniggered.

"No, I really mean it." Bruce reinforced.

"No objections there. They were about as helpful as a waterproof towel." Rhodey concurred.

"A waterproof towel?" Clint pondered.

"Don't overstretch yourself bird brain." Tony chipped in.

"My suggestion, comrades, is that we simply allow Tony to deal with this his own way. He is the only one capable of knowing or understanding exactly what is best when he finds it."

"I like pointbreak's idea." Tony said smugly. "But…" He added. "I'm more than open to suggestions, because apart from Tash's suggestion I haven't had a clue where to start."

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I think Thor is spot on. Tony, we trust you. Just keep us updated." Steve said casually.

Tony frowned. Nobody objected.

"Really that's it?"

"Yes Tony."

"Ook…" He said hesitantly. "No rules, no conditions, just off you go Tony and play with your potentially galaxy ending nuke? See what happens?"

"Tony…" Steve sighed. "We can't win with you, can we? We don't trust you you're mad at us… We do trust you and you're suspicious?"

"Well…." Tony started.

"We agreed to start over Stark, this is me holding up my end of the deal. I'm trusting you, so trust me, ok? And trust yourself. All you've done is to protect everyone else. You won't hurt anyone Tony, we've got it all planned out. The dampened room, leaving the inhibitor on for an emergency. Just relax nad trust yourself please."

The room fell into a stony silence for a moment. Tony looked from one face to another. His friends trusted him. Friends. He'd used the word without thinking and applied it to all of them. He was surrounded by friends and for the first time in a long time he felt safe.

Maybe it was the time he got the break he deserved.

Or maybe it wasn't, it didn't matter anymore. Because he had family and somehow, he knew he could get through anything that this shithole of a life had to throw at him now.

"Ok then. I guess I'll go do some work in the lab."

"And we'll drag you up at Dinner time." Pepper smiled. They weren't going to let him stay down there all week after all.

….

Tony had been trying to relax for a couple of days now, just going about what he would usually do, which meant spending far too long in the lab working on anything and everything he could be bothered to do. Most of it was weaponry for the Avengers, they needed to be prepared and he had so many ideas running around his head. But despite this nothing happened. NO sign of the CAEB or any powers… But Tony knew why that was. He was trying to relax, act normal… but he was trying too hard. He was consciously aware of why he was doing this all the time, consciously aware of the fact the battle was coming so of course it wasn't going to work.

The Avengers were dragging him up to sleep every night, yet despite the fact that he'd successfully dampened and CAEB proofed the room, he only ever pretended to sleep when Pepper was with him and when she wasn't, he drunk himself into unconsciousness. After all, you can't dream when you're out.

He knew this wasn't the plan, but he was scared. Despite all the protection, all the fail safes he was all too aware of what could go wrong. He'd known this going in, of course, but now it was all so real and he couldn't have predicted how terrified it would make him.

He knew he had to get a grip, he had done this for a very good reason after all. The other weren't on his back about it either, they were keeping their promise which made his actions all the worse.

Of course, the others really didn't understand, they thought it was a switch that he could just turn on and off, but it wasn't. It wasn't a switch but a volume button. It was on all the time, but most of the time it was dull. Yet, he couldn't escape it and it was like he couldn't get his hand on the volume control, hell, he didn't even know where it was.

He sighed. It was 6pm. The Avengers would be down here in half an hour he guessed, to drag him back upstairs and eat something. He had to admit he was a little hungry, Bruce had brought him lunch when he hadn't turned up but he'd been too busy to touch it. Pepper was away at the moment, but he couldn't remember where. She'd told him before she'd left but he'd been preoccupied and not really listening. That must have been a week ago now and he missed her terribly. As he thought more about her the screen next to him flickered into life, yet he didn't notice.

He could see her, walking down the sidewalk on some street, heels clicking. It didn't look like America though, the cars were different and they were driving on the wrong side of the street, which wasn't wide, but narrow and bendy. The buildings were quaint and only two storeys tall for the most part, it was like stepping into the past. It was so un-citylike. It looked very British.

Pepper smiled and laughed at what someone next to her said… some smarmy businessman in a suit. He knew that laugh, her fake but highly convincing business laugh. The accent was British and confirmed his theory, but he was sure it wasn't London, it just didn't look like the capital, though he could hardly be certain, he'd been drunk last time he went… correction, every time he'd been.

Tony breathed in and he could smell her perfume. It was nice, though he preferred it when she didn't wear any. She smelt great naturally. It was dark, the streets illuminated and her red hair shining in the moonlight. The air smelt clean and fresh, far different from that in New York and from what she was wearing Tony could tell she'd been out to Dinner.

Whatever they'd been talking about seemed to be concluded. Pepper stepped into the waiting taxi and Tony's view changed. He was no longer following her on the street but sat opposite her in the car.

He decided to try something.

"Hey Pep." He said softly.

 _Hey Pep_

Pepper sat in the taxi and her eyes startled wide. Tony? She could have sworn she'd just heard his voice and she knew better than to assume she was hearing things. She wanted to answer, but she didn't want the driver to think she was going insane. She looked around her as inconspicuously as she could manage, but there was nothing to see. She went through her bag, retrieving her cell and pretended to dial.

"Tony?" She spoke into the receiver, but there was no connection.

 _You heard me?_ The voice came again and this time she could clearly feel it was inside her head.

"Yes, Tony I can. How are you doing it? I'm guessing you are making progress…"

 _First time actually, and I'm really not sure how, but hey._

"This is a little bit creepy."

 _I don't know, I think it's quite funny that your pretending to be on the phone_.

"You can see that?"

 _Yeah._

"Ok that's definitely creepy."

 _Want me to stop?_

"God no, it's great to hear your voice, I've missed you so much… I just, you're not overdoing it are you…"

 _I feel fine Pep._

"Good, ok… I'm nearly at my Hotel… can you stay on the line while I check in."

 _I'll try. Where are you?_

"York. I told you this last week."

I know, I'm sorry I wasn't listening.

"I could tell, though this is rather extreme way to find out. You could have just asked Jarvis." Pepper slipped out of the Car. She didn't need to pay the driver, the company she was visiting has seen to that. It appeared that the receptionist at the Hotel also knew who she was, her bags were taken and she was handed a room key before she even had the chance to speak.

 _Yeah, I suppose it would have. These British are efficient… and desperate for our business it seems._

"I'm enjoying it. Makes a change from running after you."

 _Ouch._

"This deal is important to them and to be honest I really think it could be beneficial to us as well."

Yeah, well. You always were better with those sort of decisions, so I'll leave you to it. Nice room by the way, best suite in the house?

Pepper sat on the bed, now she was alone she put down the phone, there was no need to keep up the pretence. "I assume so…" Hearing Tony's voice in her head was making her miss him anymore. It had been getting, clearer more solid all the time.

 _Pep, I'm going to try something… If it works don't freak out._

"I can promise I'll try, but I can't promise, I'm not going to find any of this bit weird."

Tony could feel his connection with Pepper getting stronger and stronger and it reminded him of when he'd been reaching out to Coulson on the bus. He let the feeling fill him up and when he opened his eyes, he was looking into Peppers eyes.

"Tony? How the… Did you teleport or something?" Pepper reached out to touch him, but he held up to stop him.

"I think I'm still in the lab, I think this is a projection." Tony could still feel the cold of the workbench under his hands and somehow, he could see the lab as he was simultaneously tracing the freckles on Pepper's face.

"OK, so I can't touch?"

"I'm not sure… give it a try."

"You sure?"

"Why not?" He shrugged.

Pepper reached forward to touch Tony's hand. At first it went straight through and she clutched her fingers into the duvet on her bed. She smiled, a little disappointed that she couldn't hold him for real. But Tony's face was furrowed in thought.

"What is it?" She asked, a little concern leaking into her features.

"Oh, nothing's wrong, just… try that again."

Pepper tilted her head in surprise but did as she asked. This time the air felt thick, but there was still nothing tangible.

Tony took a deep breath. "One more time."

Pepper frowned, unsure of what Tony was trying to achieve. But she obliged.

Tony focused on the ghosting feeling of Pepper's fingers on his palm. 'Don't think… Just do.' He told himself and then he felt it. Pepper's hand was solid in his own and he felt himself being sucked away from the lab.

Pepper felt a jolt that felt like a small electric shock and then Tony was there, sat in front of her, fingers entwined with hers. There was a bright blue light fading from the room as the glow in Tony's eyes died down, revealing familiar hazel orbs that looked a little shocked.

"Well I'll be damned!" Tony exclaimed softly.

"Tony? Oh my God." Pepper ran her fingers across Tony's cheeks and shoulders, a little in shock.

"This is… weird, right?"

"Tony this is amazing. This means you're getting control."

"I still have no idea what the hell I just did… but yeah, I guess."

"So… What should we do while you're here?"

"I don't know, I have a few ideas." Tony smirked.

….

"Tony's gone!" Steve exclaimed, bursting back into the kitchen where Natasha was busy.

"What." Clint exclaimed, rolling the chair closer. Thor got to his feet, a look of confusion on his face.

"He's not in the lab. He just damn vanished."

"So, he's not in the lab... did you check his room… ask Jarvis?" Natasha asked, assuming that Steve was panicking for no reason. Tony wouldn't pull this crap, not after everything.

"No, I mean Jarvis showed me the footage and he CAEB'd out of here. Like gone in a bright blue light."

"Well, this appears to be a development." Thor said remarkably calmly.

"No one else is concerned about this?" Steve asked incredulously.

"So, he's used his powers and disappeared… but that was kind of the point of all this." Natasha said calmly.

"Yes, but it is a little unexpected. He hasn't mentioned any progress until now." Clint said.

"Yeah, well Tony never does things by halves, does he?" Bruce walked into the room. "Jarvis has shown me the readings and we're trying to track where he might have gone to, but it will take a few hours."

"So, what do we do till then?" Clint asked.

"Well Stark may be able to return on his own." Thor offered. "He summoned the power to leave, there is no reason he cannot return."

"Or he might be stuck somewhere… We don't even know if he's on the planet."

"That is a fair point Steve, but we can't do anything till we know where he is and that is going to take a few hours." Bruce sat down.

"Ok. Fine. We sit here and wait for the computer to do its thing and then swing by and pick him up. I don't suppose he took his phone when he disappeared." Steve sighed.

"Sir's phone is in his room."

"Ok, well there goes that idea." Natasha rolled her eyes.

….

Tony pulled on his T-shirt and stretch the crick out of his neck from having sat at a desk all week. Pepper was sat at the dresser brushing out her hair.

"You should probably think about getting back you know. I have a meeting in the morning and I'd imagine British immigration wouldn't be best pleased to learn you can pop up wherever you want." She smiled.

"I imagine I rather freaked everyone out back at the tower too. I doubt they were expecting me to just disappear on them."

"True." Pepper nodded.

Tony sat on the bed for a while, with his eyes closed. He was trying to connect with something in his lab, something he could anchor to and pull himself back. He must have been trying to do so for a while because suddenly Peppers voice broke through.

"I'm guessing its not working."

"No." Tony admitted. "I might be stuck here."

"You'll figure it out." Pepper said simply. "You always do. Even if you don't I'm sure I can smuggle you back on the jet on Thursday."

Tony scoffed. "I can't stay here that long, I'll go demented."

"Well figure it out then."

Tony sighed and tried again. He wanted to get back to his work, not be stuck hiding from hotel maids while Pepper was at meetings. He looked for Rhodey… But he wasn't in the tower, he felt himself homing in at New York, but not on his building. It was green, very green, there were lots of voices. It was busy, bustling with people and the glimmer of light on the water in front of him was soothing. He could make out his friends slumped and pensive shoulders. He was clearly deep in thought and he recognised the fountain he was sat in front of. Central Park.

Tony walked up behind his friend and reached out. He put a gentle hand on his shoulder and slowly felt it become more solid underneath him.

Rhodey seemed to notice as well as he suddenly flinched and turned round, relaxing when he saw the familiar face.

"Tony, what are you doing here?" Rhodey asked in confusion.

"Can I borrow your phone?" Tony held out his hand expectantly.

"Yeah sure, but…"

"I'll explain in a minute." Tony said, taking the device and dialling out quickly. "Yeah, Pep it worked, I'm with Rhodey in central Park. I love you too. See you on Friday."

"Ok, so what was that about?"

"Let's go home. I'll explain on the way, I may need a body guard."

"What?"

"Come on." Tony started walking away and Rhodey jogged to catch up.

…

"The trace failed." Bruce said. Now his face was screwed in concern.

"What, How? Why?" Clint asked.

"I'm not sure, maybe he moved again. The energy got distorted somehow."

"So, we have no idea where he is?"

"No." Bruce confirmed.

"That's not quite true." Tony's voice startled them as he stepped out of the elevator Rhodey in tow. "Sorry about freaking you out guys… my disappearance wasn't entirely intentional."

"What happened? Where did you go?"

"York." Tony sighed.

"York, England York?" Clint asked, surprised.

"Yeah."

"Why?" Steve asked.

"Pepper is there on a business deal." Natasha confirmed.

"Yeah, I was sat in the lab missing her… I couldn't remember where she said she was going last week and the next thing I was seeing her… Then she could hear me. After that I think I astral projected before I finally somehow, got there." Tony said vaguely.

"…Ok. And how did you get back?" Steve asked.

"Well, I tried to get back to the lab, but it seems to work better if I connect with a person, so Rhodey was in central park and I got a lift back with him."

"So, this is indeed progress then Man of Iron."

"Yeah, but I'm not really sure that I know what I'm doing with it."

"No matter. It's a start. A quite dramatic start and the last thing we were expecting, but I suppose no harm done."

"You freaked Steve out big time." Clint grinned.

"Yes. You did."

"Aw Steve, never knew you cared."

"Can you just us some warning next time you feel like disappearing. Or at least take your phone."

"I'll do my best." Tony agreed. "Now, you better have saved me some dinner, I'm starving. Turns out hopping continents is great for working up an appetite."

…

Nothing seemed to happen for the rest of the week. One thing that had certainly changed was that he always had his phone in his pocket. He knew the team was keen for him to repeat it, or at least try to, but it had been tiring and if he was honest Tony was more than a little freaked out by it. Clint thought it was cool, of course, but Tony didn't want the ability to teleport, or astral project, or whatever. He just wanted to be Tony Stark.

So that's what he did. Just kept on being Tony Stark and tried to pretend it had never happened. Tuesday morning, he sat at his desk desperate for a coffee and exhausted from the three days he'd spent in the lab. He honestly felt he needed the coffee just to get upstairs to bed, yet he couldn't even be bothered to get up and turn the machine on. He would just sleep here then, he supposed and let his forehead rest against the desk unceremoniously. God, he wanted a coffee though. He could imagine

He'd just about fallen asleep when he heard a click and a whooshing of steam. He picked his head up wearily and frowned. He clinked through bleary eyes and tried to locate the sound. There was a fresh cup of coffee waiting for him on the top under the coffee machine. He could smell it from across the room. Had someone left that for him? Though he already knew the answer he decided to try and figure out where the others were.

He closed his eyes and looked for Pepper first. She was always the easiest for him to connect with, it felt like they were always subconsciously calling out to each other all the time. He could always feel her, well, apart from when she'd been pissed with him yesterday for hiding in the lab to avoid a rather important meeting he's supposed to have attended, then he'd just felt alone and empty and he couldn't stand it.

Pepper was where he'd expect her to be at 5:30am. In bed, asleep. He rediverted his attention and apparently Rhodey was as well. Bruce was upstairs in the lab, asleep on his own desk. He could never quite feel Natasha, the little spider didn't seem to emit anything. It was hard to describe but Tony seemed to be able to lock on to other's emotions… it was like he could sense their essence in a way. He couldn't always tell what they were feeling and certainly not what they thinking, but it was like he could feel their souls if there was such a thing. Natasha seemed to keep hers veiled at all times. He could only sense her when she was close and never truly felt her like he could the others unless he brushed against her in the kitchen or the corridor, which was now not always truly by mistake.

It was all incredibly disconcerting as a scientist, especially one who thought he'd understand most of what there was to know about the world around him, but it was someone had lifted the blindfold on his senses when he submitted to the CAEB and he could barely recognise the world around him. That's why he never did it for very long. He far preferred the simple human perception, not this weird psychedelic sensual trip that he seemed to get when he wasn't truly focused.

Clint was wheeling quietly towards the communal kitchen, heading straight for the cupboard where he knew some of the poptarts had been hidden from Thor. Thor was on the roof, gazing at the stars, probably thinking of home. If it had been weird for Tony to hop from New York to London, he couldn't imagine what it would be like to be stranded on a completely different planet. Steve had just got up and met Clint in the kitchen, unbothered by the hawks early morning snack gathering mission, he started to get ready for his run and poruing himself a coffee.

Coffee. Tony needed that coffee.

Suddenly the smell seemed stronger and he looked down in surprise to see the mug now right in front of him on the desk.

"Oh hell no." Tony stood up and backed away from the enchanted coffee. He knew he'd done it, but that was goddamn freaky and he wasn't going to touch it with a ten foot pole. Sufficiently shocked into wakefulness he headed for the elevator, keeping a wary eye on the mug over his shoulder and headed upstairs, getting as far away from it as he could.

"You ok Tony?" Steve asked, seeing the slightly grumpy and shaken look on Tony's face.

Tony was mad at himself now. It was just a damn cup of coffee and he'd moved himself across the planet before, so a mug of coffee across the room really wasn't a big deal.

"Yeah fine Steve." He rubbed his head and turned on the coffee machine, _by hand_ , and waited for it to finish like a normal person.

"Why are you looking at that coffee like its going to jump out at you or something?" Clint asked and Tony realised he was acting very weird.

"Did something happen?"

"Just forget about it for now guys, I'll talk about it later." Tony poured the coffee down the sink and settled for a glass of water and an aspirin instead. The two others in the room looked at him suspiciously but decided to drop it. Tony looked like he hadn't selpt for three days and in truth he probably hadn't. He hadn't said anything but Steve new that even in the CAEB proofed bedroom that the billionaire was highly wary of going to sleep again. After all, the last time he had done so without the inhibitor Pepper had got hurt. If it carried on much longer he and Natasha had decided they would bring it up, but for now, they knew that Tony just needed some time to get used to all of this.

"Jarvis, will you wake Bruce up please before his gets a crick in his neck from sleeping on the desk."

Tony asked the ceiling and settled on the sofa.

"Of course Sir."

"How goes the walking Clint."

"Pretty Damn good actually. They reckon they'll let me loose without this damn chair in a few days, but apparently crutches will be compulsory unless I'm at a session."

"Way to go feathers." Tony said sincerely.

"That's really great Clint." Steve concurred, sitting down to tie his shoelaces. It irked Tony how long the guy spent getting it right. It reminded him of the lecture he'd got from Steve about a month ago about never having his own tied properly. 'you'll feel silly if Iron Man ends up with a broken ankle because he tripped over his own shoelaces.'. He had never bothered doing his laces properly and had not once tripped over them. He knew how to walk after all. Patronising git, Tony thought to himself, only half maliciously. Even when Steve was being his ever-annoying self, Tony was having a hard time being mad at him properly and he thought how much of a difference that was in such a short time. He could tell it was the same for Steve. Even when Tony was on his most self-destructive paths recently he'd been far less Captain America about it and far more Steve and Tony really appreciated the understanding he'd received from the whole team.

That being said, Tony wasn't in the best of moods right now and it wouldn't half cheer him up of the smug captain fell over his own shoelaces and gave him something to laugh about. That was never going to happen though, not with how careful he was. Tony could just imagine the knot slipping undone now as Steve stood up and bid them farewell, heading for the elevator. He imagined the loose end getting trapped under his opposite foot and the captain going his length into the carpet with a cry of surprise.

Then he snapped out of it and Clint was howling with laughter, Tony looked at him in confusion as the archer managed to breathe again finally. "Oh god Steve that was priceless."

Tony looked over to the man in question and found him sprawled out on the floor as he'd imagined.

"You tripped over your shoelace!" Tony said in disbelief. "You just tripped over your shoelace." Tony started to chuckle, which turned into a laugh and then both he and Clint where in hysterics again.

"Thanks for the concern guys."

"Aww sorry Steve did you get carpet burn." Clint mocked.

"I really don't see why this is so funny." Steve said unamused and rather embarrassed.

"Oh, you Don't?" Tony asked. "Do you remember a lecture you gave me about shoelaces the other week?" Tony continued to chuckle, now thoroughly red in the face.

"Yes, I do Stark, and I feel I have rather proved my point. If this can happen when you're being careful imagine what can happen when you are careless."

"So what's the point in wasting time being careful when bad stuff happens anyway?" Clint retorted.

"There is absolutely no point with you too is there?"

"Nope." Tony agreed and then gathered himself, straightening his face. "In all seriousness are you ok Cap?"

"Yes Tony, I'm fine." Smiling at the concern and starting to see the light side himself.

"Good." He said, nodding and narrowing his eyes, causing Steve to pay close attention to what he was about to say next. "Just be careful Steve." He said seriously, but then he began to crack and his eyes started to water. "Because you know falls in the elderly can be very serious."

And with that the pair of them were gone, dissolved into fits of laughter and Steve growled in frustration and left them both where they were, ready to work off his frustration in his run.

And finally, Tony had found an upside to the CAEB, and he was sure as hell keeping this to himself for a while. He had already started planning the best long-term prank on the captain that he'd devised in a long while. This was going to be so much fun.

…..

"Hey Tony." Bruce emerged from his room at about midday after his brief sleep in the lab and Tony was alone in the kitchen.

"Brucie boy! Good sleep?"

"Yes, thanks. I'm assuming you Jarvis to wake me then?"

"I was CAEB spying on everyone and didn't think you'd appreciate having used the desk as a pillow when you woke up." Tony knew it was abrupt and would probably freak Bruce out, but he'd promised to be honest with them…

"Oh." Bruce said a little taken aback. "So, you can spy on us all now?" He said, only a little jokingly.

"Well, I always could kind of… I mean that's how I connected with Pepper in the first place to do that teleport thing."

"Fair enough. Thanks anyway, you were right, definitely save my neck from a terrible fate."

Tony smiled and picked up the sandwich he'd just finished making. He still hadn't gone anywhere near the coffee machine since that morning.

"Where is everyone?" Bruce asked casually, hoping to keep Tony in the room a little longer. They'd hadn't had a proper conversation in a few days; their time in their relative labs always seemed to mean they'd just missed each other, or just crossed paths briefly in the kitchen like this.

"Tash is training, Clint's probably resting after his session… Thor…" Tony had intened to go get Thor off the roof earlier and check he was ok, but he had completely forgotten, he took a moment to try and get a sense of the Demi-God and finally managed to get a lock on him, relieved to see he wasn't still sat on the roof.

"Thor is breaking my gym equipment again." Tony rolled his eyes and made a mental note that he needed to improve its strength again. "And Steve hasn't been seen since he left for his run 6 hours ago."

"Why does that sound ominous?" Bruce asked.

"He tripped over his shoelace this morning and me and Clint gave him a hard time about it." Tony chuckled at the memory. "I probably should apologise."

"Right, I very much doubt that's going to happen." Bruce raised an eyebrow.

"You'd be right. It was hilarious. Princess will get over it." Tony had his sandwich in hand as was making for the elevator already and Bruce really wanted to spend some time with his friend. He quickly finished up making his own lunch while he shouted after him.

"You mind if I come see what you've been working on. Getting pretty lonely up on the R&D floor."

"Yeah sure Bruce, anytime." Tony smiled. He had to admit it would be nice to have the good doctor around more often. They were both so busy with their own projects they never seemed to see each other anymore. "You can set up with me if you like, I mean I gave you your own labs so you could have some space from me and my music, it wasn't a 'stay out of my lab' thing."

"That would be pretty cool actually Tony. I might take you up on that."

"Yeah, well you'll still have the your lab to escape to when my messiness starts to piss of the neat freak in you. Or the ACDC gets too loud."

The pair of them made their way into the lab and the first thing Tony noticed was the coffee, still on the table from earlier that morning. He glared at it for a moment and then steered Bruce in a wide circle away from the offending object.

Bruce of course noticed Tony's odd behaviour and the way his eyes never left the mug, like he was expecting it to suddenly jump at him. He wondered for a moment whether he should just leave it, tony would likely bring it up in his own time, but he was finding Tony's actions rather amusing and curiosity got the better of him.

"Tony, why are you treating that mug like it's a biohazard?"

"The mug, what mug? Tony asked, acting on point. "… Oh that mug!"

"Yeah Tony very convincing now spill."

"Fine." Tony huffed. "I was really tired this morning, like too tired to even make it to bed, so I thought I'd get a coffee to get me up to bed… but then I realised I couldn't even be bothered to do that so planned on sleeping on my desk."

"Ok?" Bruce couldn't quite see where this was going but was suitably intrigued.

"Anyway, I must have dosed off thinking about coffee, cos next thing I know the damn coffee machine has made me a coffee by itself. I'd just woken up so I thought I better check it was CAEB interference and not one of you guys being nice… so that's when I spied on you all and saw you were asleep at your desk too… and Steve was making coffee upstairs and I remembered how much I wanted coffee…"

Tony took a breath.

"Then the damn thing just appeared on the desk in front of me and scared the shit out of me. I haven't had a coffee all day."

Bruce was chuckling quietly by the end of this and Tony glowered at him.

"It's really not funny Bruce."

"It kinda is. Are you just going to leave it there and hope it goes away?"

"That was the plan."

Bruce shook his head and walked over to the offending article wiping the tears from his eyes. "If its such a big deal Tony, I'll get rid of it.

"No, don't touch it!" Tony grabbed Bruce's arm and pulled it away.

"Tony, you are being ridiculous!" Bruce laughed. "It's not possessed."

"You don't know that for sure." Tony said quietly.

"Tony seriously what is it? You've done way bigger stuff than move a mug of coffee, why has this got you so freaked out?"

"No one messes with my coffee but me." Tony said incredibly seriously.

"Well technically it was you who messed with it so…"

"Shut up Bruce. You!" Tony shouted at his robot. "Get rid of that."

The robot whined and whizzed its way over to the desk. "Spill any I'll recycle you for parts."

"Come on Tony. Show me what you've been working on." Bruce tried to take the inventors attention away from the possessed coffee mug while You took it out if sight, but he was so going to tell the others about this later.

…..

Steve didn't come back into the common room until around 1pm. His run had been way longer than he had anticipated, but what doesn't kill you, he supposed. He was absolutely starving after his shower and came into the kitchen to find Natasha, seemingly fresh from training herself.

He smiled at her as he entered and then suddenly felt his foot trapped underneath him as he treied to take a step. He yelped and scrabbled for balance but there was nothing to be done. For the second time the down he could see the carpet approaching far too fast, but he managed to get his arms out to prevent himself face planting like he had earlier.

"Steve, you alright?" Natasha chuckled helping him to his feet. Steve didn't answer, instead closely inspected his shoelaces. He just couldn't understand how they'd come undone again. It was the same shoe as this morning and he'd made sure to double knot them after this morning's incident.

"That's the second time this has happened today." He said with a frown and Natasha noticed the genuine concern in his voice.

"Relax Cap, you're probably just a bit tired. I know its not you but taking a day off won't do you any harm."

Steve just hummed n response. Maybe Tash was right. He'd get an early night and see how he felt in the morning.

…

It had been silent in the lab for some time with the two men working and concentrating hard, but the silence was suddenly broken at around 1pm when Tony started chuckling.

"Shoelaces." He chuckled to himself.

"What was that?" Bruce asked.

"Nothing." Tony said, wiping his eyes on the back of his sleeve. "It's nothing Bruce. He said, shaking his head.

…..

Today had been a good day. A really good day if he left out the coffee incident. Thankfully Pepper was home tonight and after his desk nap this morning Tony was well overdue a good night's sleep. Thankfully pepper was exhausted to and turned in early. Tony was right behind.

He didn't even think to fight sleep this time, it just took him easily. He had no dreams, no nightmares, no fear of what the CAEB might do in the night and he woke up late, Pepper's face close to his and he felt amazing.

…..

By the time Wednesday came Steve was starting to get truly concerned. He sat down before he morning run and inspected his shoelace thoroughly. He could feel Bruce's questioning eyes on him, but he ignored them as he took his time, slowly and carefully looping the two strings and making sure they were pulled tight. He then added the second knot and call him paranoid, but a third for good measure.

"Still having laces trouble."

Steve nodded. "8 times over the past few days. I'm getting rather good at not falling on my face."

"That's a bit weird man." Bruce frowned. "Maybe change them out if it keeps happening. Or get another pair." Bruce offered.

"I just might." Steve nodded. "But I'll see how I go on a triple knot today."

….

It was, as always, a good few hours before anyone else got up. Tony was had been sleeping so well recently that he was getting rather reluctant to get out of bed on a morning. Especially when Pepper didn't have an early meeting.

He walked into the kitchen in a particularly good mood, but came to a slow and quiet halt as he saw Clint get up from the couch. He was being allowed to walk about on crutches not, but apparently, he was walking fairly well in therapy sessions now. The progress was evidently a positive influence on his essence, Tony refused to call it an aura and hadn't been able to come up with anything scientific so had settled with that name. He could feel the Archer was in a much better mood of late, though emotions, of all the team, had been the loudest to him. It made sense of course, spy or not Clint was feeling a hell of a lot right now.

Clint made a few steps on the crutches and then reconsidered. Tony shrunk back a little, so when Clint looked around to check he was alone, that's what he saw. Clint slowly and carefully unthreaded his arms and let the crutches fall to the floor. He gave himself a moment to balance and then took a step. He was quick to place his foot back on the floor and slow to lift the next as he took the time to regain his balance. Slowly but surely, he made his way to the kitchen but Tony could see he was tiring. Still he didn't move closer, he was ready too should he be needed, but feathers seemed to be doing fine on his own.

Finally, Clint reached the counter. Grabbing on hard and hauling himself onto the chair catching his breath.

"Nice work feathers." Tony smiled, Giving him a pat on the back.

"You going to snitch on me?" Clint asked unconcerned, returning the smile.

"Why would I do that?" Tony said seriously. "More you do faster you get better, right? You're not stupid, I know you won't overdo it."

Clint smiled at Tony fondly. The guy had his back against the onslaught of overprotective avengers and it felt nice not to be babied for a change.

"Want to try get back, or shall I get the crutches?" Tony asked, when Clint started to look back towards the couch. It was evident he hadn't reallycome to the kitchen for anything. He had a glass of water and some snakcs back on the table near the sofa. He'd just been bored and restless.

"I'll give it a go." Clint said, but his voice didn't scream confidence. He got back to his feet and Tony stayed where he was. Clint knew he was watching, but he kept on with the coffee maker and his eyes weren't boreing into him like everyone else usually were and it felt great.

HE was maybe half way there when he felt his strength starting to. He knew if he took one more step his leg would give, he went to call for Tony, but the crutches were already under his arms. Satisfied Clint was sturdy on the crutches Tony went back to the kitchen without a word, leaving Clint to complete his journey.

If it had been one of the others they'd have been hovering close by and they'd have carried him back instead of letting him finish on crutches.

Clint tries the way back, Tony hovers but not too close. Clint is very thankful, but its clear he isn't going to make it all the way back, so Tony steps in without a word.

"Nearly made it." Tony smiled once Clint was settled. "Couple more days you'll have that down." He said it with such certainty that Clint didn't even think to doubt it.

"Hey Tony, thank you for that, the other's they baby me so much and I know they care, but it's so frigging annoying, you know?"

"Yeah, well, guess I kind of know what it feels like right now." And Clint realised how true that was, Ton leaning to use his powers was exactly like learning to walk again and he knew all about dealing with their constant and unwavering eyes being on him.

"And I think we've certainly established recently that taking it at your own pace is the only way to do it. So, no pressure from me about resting up x hours a day."

"So no, 'what would you have done if I hadn't been there speech."

"Never." Tony smiled. "What would you have done?" He asked curiously.

"Crawled." Clint said, simply.

"Huh." Tony said, taking a bit from an apple. "Nothing wrong with that." He concluded.

Then there was a thud that caught Clint's attention.

"Oh for god's sake."

"Watch that language Steve." Clint chuckled. The Captain was once again on the floor, shoelace tangled underneath his other shoe.

"Still having trouble with those laces Cap."

"That's the ninth time this week, and its always the same shoe!" Steve yelled in frustration. He stormed out the room to a wide eyed but still chuckling pair of men and much to their surprise appeared again 10 minutes later brandishing a new shoelace.

Natasha walked into the kitchen, lazily ruffling Clint's hair as she passed.

"Need anything?" She asked. Clint just smiled and shook his head.

"Coffee Bruce?" Tony asked as the scientist made an appearance. It seemed that rush hour had hit the kitchen. "Hey Thor, long time!" Tony called. "Can I get you anything?" But the thunder god seemed more preoccupied with what Steve was doing.

"May I enquire what you are attempting Captain." Steve looked up at Thor.

"I'm changing my shoelace."

"You tripped over the triple knot?" Bruce asked in surprise.

"Yeah, just now. Same shoe again, so there must be something wrong with it."

"Just old age Steve. I told you, it bites you in the ass when you least expect it." Tony joked.

"Take a day off." Natasha said in her sing song voice as a reminder of her earlier suggestion.

"Well if this doesn't sort it I don't know what will." Steve remarked, triumphantly throwing the offending shoe lace in the bin.

…..

"Movie night!" Clint said enthusiastically. It had been two days Steve's last shoelace related incident and he was no convinced he had solved the issue by replacing it. Tony smiled smugly when he'd announced that. It was all part of his master plan after all.

"Damn I left the popcorn in the microwave." Tony sighed as he'd just sat down.

"I'll get it." Clint got to his feet as quickly as he could manage. He'd been getting stronger every day and just as tony predicted he could now make the trip to and from the kitchen fairly easily and was doing it at every opportunity.

"Don't overdo it Clint."

"Caught out by anymore possessed shoelaces Steve?" Tony teased.

"Not for a few days. Got sacred of any more coffee cups Stark." Steve through back.

Tony clenched his jaw and turned away, glowering at Bruce in the process. He didn't think he'd ever hear the end of that one, certainly not from Clint after he'd look up the footage.

"Ooh that shut him up." Natasha chuckled.

Tony was going to have his revenge for that and it would be coming in shoelace form very soon indeed.

They settled into the movie and unusually everyone was happy to go to bed without starting a second. But Thor had something on his mind, Tony could feel it in their close proximity. He'd been stewing over it all evening and it was starting to put Tony on edge by association.

"What's troubling you big guy?" Tony tapped him on the arm before he stood up. Both Thor and Natasha looked at Tony in surprise. Natasha hadn't particularly read anything off the Guy and Thor had been trying hard to keep his concerns to himself.

"It's nothing really Stark I was just wondering… had you made any progress with your dreams?"

"Not a peep yet, sorry guys. Have to admit I was kind of trying to avoid it for a while, but recently I've been sleeping through, no dreams… maybe the odd memory, but it's all been good stuff."

Thor nodded without a word, but Tony could tell he was concerned at how much time had passed. There was likely an attack being planned on that random planet that had taken issue with them and they had no way of knowing about any of it.

"Don't force it Tony." Bruce warned solemnly. He knew this conversation would likely make Tony feel pressured to help, but that did not historically end well for them.

"No chance of the Brucie Boy, I'm liking my sleep too much at the moment." He smirked.

"Anything from Asgard, yet?" Steve fired back. They were just as equally relying on news from Asgard to determine what they were facing Thor realised and yet he had not seen the messengers.

"Not yet I'm afraid."

"Well let's hope that no news is good news. Night guys."

"Night." The room murmured in reply to Tony, but they still all left on a more sombre note than before.

…..

Steve was maybe a mile away from the tower on the way back from his run when it happened again. His balance went from under him and he skidded to a halt on his stomach on the concrete of the side walk. He brushed in annoyance at the small grazes that formed on his shins and knees and tried very, very hard not to completely lose it in front of the passers-by, who were staring at him in a mixture of amusement and concern.

This was getting beyond a joke now. He took his shoes off in a calm manner, holding back his frustration when he noticed that it was now that other shoe, the shoe that had been fine all this time that had unravelled its laces and tripped him. With a huff he ran back to the tower, one shoe in each hand, jaw clenched. This was not a good start to the day.

…

By the time he was back in the elevator, rising up to the penthouse, the grazes had healed. They were not what had annoyed him of course, he sighed and out the shoes back on. The other's would have a field day with this, especially Barton and Stark so he decided not to mention it or draw attention.

Turns out he didn't get that option. He stepped out of the elevator and immediately fell forward. He'd left both laces undone and they'd got wrapped around each other in a series of knots and tangels Steve doubted was physically possible. Thankfully this time he landed on something, or rather someone who broke his fall.

"Are you quite alright Captain Rogers." The long-haired blond asked as he ensured Steve regathered his feet.

"Shoelaces again?" Bruce asked in disbelief.

"I don't know Bruce." Steve sighed. "I really don't know."

Bruce could tell Steve was getting beside himself with all of this now. The man was genuinely concerned and at his wits end.

"Sit down Steve." Bruce said softly and Steve complied, defeated. "Talk to me." Bruce encouraged and Steve sighed again, putting his head in his hands.

"This is just too much of a coincidence now Bruce. I mean, I take ages tying them, making sure their done up , but I still keep falling over them. I'm starting to think something is wrong."

"Wrong, as in?"

"As in I need to book in with SHIELD medical and get myself checked out. I think there's something really wrong Bruce."

"Ok, let's not worry just yet ok. Maybe that medical is a good idea, but Steve, you're fine, ok. Have the medical, get some piece of mind, meanwhile I'll get Tony to get you some new shoes and let's hope that's the end of this ok?"

"Thanks Bruce, I'm sorry about all this…"

"Steve, I'm surprised you didn't flip out days ago. If this had happened to me, I'd have a very hard time not letting the Hulk loose in the greenroom for a few hours."

"I agree Captain Rogers; your predicament is very vexing." Thor consoled and though it wasn't quite as helpful as Bruce's words, Steve appreciated it nonetheless.

"Thank Guy's." He sighed and sank back into the couch. Maybe he would go back to bed for a few hours.

…

Steve had decided to have his breakfast first and then go back to bed. Bruce and Thor were still busy in the kitchen and Clint had walked his way in slowly, all eyes pinned on him as he carried his crutches rather than used them. He was good on a morning, so had elected to make the most of it and the others had agreed warily. What they didn't know was that he was now spending most of his afternoons down in Tony's lab since the guy wasn't on his back all the time about it and there were plenty of things to grab onto if he couldn't quite make it across the room.

"You alright Cap?" Natasha asked lightly as she seemed to appear out of nowhere making both Steve and Bruce start behind the kitchen counter.

"Yeah, I will be." Steve said, throwing the last piece of toast onto his plate and carrying the tray in the direction of the sofa. He didn't make it three steps before he tripped a little, his plates clashed together but he managed to hold himself and his breakfast upright as Natasha was on her feet and steadying him in a flash.

Steve closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm himself. This was beyond annoying now and not even Clint was laughing.

"You can't be serious?" Clint said. "Still tripping over your laces?"

"Steve are you feeling ok." Bruce asked as Natasha guided him to the sofa.

"That's debateable." Steve groaned, rubbing his hand over his face.

"Just give me a minute." Bruce disappeared and Natasha sat down next to Steve studying him in concern.

"What's going on Steve?" Natasha asked.

"Honestly Tash, I have no idea." Steve sighed. "I've got a medical scheduled for tomorrow."

"You're worried something's wrong." Natasha stated and Steve nodded.

The buzzer went off on Clint's phone and Natasha turned to him. "You better go Clint."

"It's fine I can be a few minutes late." Clint was far more concerned about Steve right now than going to his therapy session.

"Guys its fine, Tash make sure Clint gets down there ok. I'm fine."

The two nodded, although unsure. "I'll be right back Steve." Natasha promised as she helped Clint to his feet against his will.

When she did return Bruce was taking off the blood pressure cuff.

"Steve, everything seems completely normal… for you that is, which means everything is exceptional. I agree something weird is going on, but I'm 90% certain its not you."

"Then what Bruce? Unless my shoes really are possessed this is the biggest streak of bad luck anyone has ever had."

"Take them off."

"What?"

"Give me your shoes and I'll take them down to the lab."

"Oh, come one Bruce, no, that's ridiculous."

"I'm not so sure it is. They are defying physics from what I can tell."

"You might as well Steve, it's not like there's anything to lose." Natasha reasoned.

"Fine." Steve gave in and handed them over. "But if Clint and Tony start, it wasn't my damn idea."

…..

"Are those Steve's shoes?" Tony started snickering as he saw Bruce enter the lab.

"Don't start Tony, I'm actually really worried for the guy."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he's getting proper worked up about it, booked a damn SHEILD medical."

"Ah." Tony said through gritted teeth. Maybe this had gone a bit too far. "I wouldn't bother analysing those shoes or whatever it was you were planning on doing Bruce."

"Tony, what did you do?" Bruce put down the shoes hard and glared at the billionaire who was now looking exceptionally guilty.

"I might have been using the CAEB to undo his shoelaces."

"What the actual… Tony you cannot be serious!"

"In my defence the first time was an accident!" Tony held up his hands and backed away from a very angry Bruce.

"And the other 11?"

"Were hilarious." Tony said under his breath, but Bruce hear. "Ok, Ok, Ok, I'm sorry. Ok. If I'd have known he was getting worked up I'd have stopped days ago."

Bruce grabbed Tony by the sleeve and marched him to the elevator.

"Where you dragging me off to?"

"You are going to admit what you have done to Steve and you are going to apologise." Bruce said incredibly sternly.

"Yes Dad." Rolled his eyes.

"Tony this isn't funny." Bruce glowered. "Do you have any idea how irresponsible this was?"

"Oh, come on Bruce, not you, not when I'm finally getting somewhere with this thing."

"Untying shoelaces is not getting somewhere Tony."

"Look Bruce, let me explain."

"Go on then."

"The first time, I was just imagining how funny it would be after his shoelace lecture if Mr. Careful fell over his own shoelace…"

"And then he did."

"Yes."

"So, you carried on?" Bruce said flatly, clearly still unimpressed.

"It was the first time something funny, not freaky, not scary and certainly not potentially world ending has come of this CAEB thing, so excuse me for milking it a little." Tony's voice started to bite a little at the end and he clenched his jaw to prevent it escalating farther. "I'm not stupid Bruce, I would have never have put him in any danger, I was careful."

"Ok Tony I get it and I'm sorry for going off at you. But you still have to tell him."

"I wonder how he's going to take it." Tony mused.

"Yeah, well you're on your own there. You made your bed, you can sure as hell lie in it."

"Thanks for the support Buddy."

Bruce just chuckled and pushed him out of the elevator and the doors opened.

Steve looked up from the couch instantly and frowned. Bruce was sure back quick, but he didn't have his shoes. Did that mean they were letting the tests run or something?

Tony grimaced when he saw that not just Steve, but everyone… Clint, Thor and Natasha, were all in the communal room, just looking at him. He looked to Bruce uncertainly, but he got nothing back from the scientist. Natasha's eyes narrowed as she saw the guilty look on his face.

"Tony has a confession to make, don't you Tony?" Bruce shoved Tony roughly in Steve's direction and stood back with a smug and amused look on his face to watch events unfold. He would pay for that later, Tony promised himself.

"Ermm, yeah… Listen, Steve before you get mad…"

"Spit it out Stark, what did you do?" Steve said tensely. If this was about the CAEB they all had reason to be tense, but Bruce seemed more amused than upset, so what the hell was going on?

"Well, about your shoelaces…"

Clint's mouth dropped open and it was quickly covered by a hand as a smile spread across his face. "My God, it was you! All this time… well played Star…" Clint received a strong elbow to the ribs from Natasha and Steve took a deep breath, his jaw clenching.

"Explain." He said simply.

"Well, the CAEB _might_ have _accidentl_ y been undoing your shoelaces…" Tony said slowly.

"By the CAEB you mean you." Steve said sternly.

"Well… y-yes…"

"And by accidently you mean deliberately." A growl crept into Steve's voice and Tony was now moving highly concerned to decidedly anxious.

"I suppose."

Steve stood up suddenly and lunged at him. "You Son of a Bitch!"

…..

 **And… end scene. Sorry! Hope you found that as funny as I did when I was writing it… humour is far from my strong suit though so I imagine a lot of it got lost. Ah well.**


	28. Chapter 28- A Glimpse Of What's To Come

**Right guys, this is my attempt at shorter chapters and more regular updates… we'll see how that turns out because I do love my long chapters…**

 ** **Massive love to everyone who has followed and supported this fic so far... I know my chapters can be few and far between and I do my best to make them worth it.****

 **It's taken me a lot longer than expected to get this chapter out, so my apologies. I have just got a wonderful beta over on AO3 who has been going thought the early chapters with me and helping with the typos and Americanising my britishness. I have been updating the early chapters on here as well as posting them over on AO3, so I apologise if I have neglected you guys, but hopefully for new readers the story is looking a bit more polished.**

 **I am currently working an internship so as always, I will do my best to be as regular as possible with the updates. I Hope enjoyed the last chapter fluff, going to get some more heavy plot and action now. Enjoy**

Previously

 _In the aftermath of the battle and Clint's spinal injury, Tony is convinced to fill in the others on the meetings. The next meeting is more severe than they ever could have imagined brought on by the high inhibitor setting and even once restored back to normal, Tony is weak and realises that sooner rather than later, these things are going to kill him._

 _Bruce informs the team that all the creatures they have been fighting are coming from the same planet and Thor says that they could use Tony's premonitions, to give them an early warning for what's coming, but Tony has not been having any helpful dreams since the inhibitor went on._

 _Tony makes the decision to disengage the inhibitor and try again to learn to use his powers and things seem to be going surprisingly well… Tony was getting control of his powers, moving objects, astral projection and teleporting as well as sensing other people and their emotions. He also found out he could undo Steve's shoelaces on command, leading to a prank which had Cap slowly believing there was something very wrong with him._

 _Yet so far he had had no dreams, so they are no closer to learning what they face…_

Chapter 28 - A Glimpse of what's to come.

" _Well, the CAEB might have accidently been undoing your shoelaces…" Tony said slowly._

" _By the CAEB you mean you." Steve said sternly._

" _Well… y-yes…"_

" _And by accidently you mean deliberately." A growl crept into Steve's voice and Tony was now backing away, his 'highly concerned' status rising to 'decidedly anxious'._

" _I suppose." He said nervously._

 _Steve stood up suddenly and lunged at him. "You Son of a Bitch!"_

 _Tony ran._

… _.._

Tony as running as fast as his legs would carry him. His lungs were burning, his muscles screaming as he tore down the hallway, white walls flashing past his blurring vision. He was desperate to stop, but the pounding of feet behind him was gaining fast. It was pointless, he knew that. He couldn't escape. He was being chased by someone much stronger and much faster than he was, all he had was his wit, because his body was not getting him out of this one. He could see the wall in front of him approaching fast. He might not be faster than his pursuer, but he was smaller and lighter, he could use that to his advantage.

He planted his foot and pushed off hard, making the 90 degrees turn sharply and drove hard to get back up to speed. He heard the man behind thump the wall a little, a glance behind told Tony he gained some ground but was quickly losing it in the long straight corridor.

He took as many turns as he could, but the adrenaline was wearing off and his legs were starting to fail him. He asked for more but there was nothing there. He could feel Steve's breath on his back. Aw Hell he would think twice before pranking the guy again.

When Steve had lunged at Tony he'd done the only thing he could. He ran. But for a 220lb pile of muscle Steve was way too agile and Tony couldn't get away. It felt like he'd been running for hours and he needed to change tactic.

As he rounded the next corner he saw a box that had been left in the corridor. He dropped to the floor and slid, crouching into the wall behind the obstruction. It had the desired effect. Steve went shooting straight past him but realised his mistake almost immediately. Tony scrambled to his feet and turned tail, shooting back down the way he had come while Steve skidded to a halt and made his own change of direction. The acceleration had sapped all Tony's remaining strength, any slight agility advantage he had, had was gone, but his trick had bought him a little time. He spotted the opening to the air vent and jumped, knocking the grate away and hauling himself up. A hand grabbed his foot and yanked it away.

Steve pulled hard, but all he got was Tony's shoe. As the sound of the engineer clambering through the small space rang out Steve followed suit. Tony was clever, he was using the small space to his advantage, but Steve was more than used to crawling through tunnels. He chuckled to himself as he started making headway on the exhausted engineer.

"Shit." Tony hissed, Steve was gaining on him even faster now. He reached a junction in the air ducts, he carried straight on, trying to remember the plans for the ventilation system and which way he could use to crawl to safety. But he couldn't, his mind was cloudy and desperate, filled with panic.

It was dark, and he just kept crawling until his head hit something. Shit. Dead end. He shuffled himself around to see Steve's face, bearing down on him

"Trapped Stark?"

"Steve, I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry."

But Steve kept coming.

"Shit!"

Tony closed his eyes and braced.

…..

Steve finally had Tony's silhouette in his sights. Backed into the dead end of the air vent, utterly trapped. He wasn't exactly sure how he was going to get his revenge, but he was going to enjoy it.

He moved forward hastily in the cramped space. But as he reached forward his hand fell into the empty space.

"Son of a..!"

Then there was a creak underneath him.

"Shit!"

…..

"Steve must have caught him by now." Clint rolled into the corridor

"Steve should have caught him ages ago." Bruce mused, a frown furrowing on his face.

"So, where the hell did they go?" Natasha asked and was soon answered by muffled noises from above them.

"Son of a..!"

There was a loud clatter from above them and a yelp as Steve came tumbling head first out of the ceiling, the grate that had been beneath him having given way.

"What the?" Clint exclaimed, rolling backwards quickly to avoid being squashed by the falling Captain.

"Steve? You Ok?" Natasha asked and the solider nodded.

"Where is Man of Iron?" Thor asked

"I'm not sure, I had him trapped. I think he must have teleported."

"Pah, chicken." Clint scoffed.

"I don't think he meant to." Steve groaned rolled over, so he could sit up.

"J, he in the building?" Clint asked.

"No Agent Barton, I am having trouble locating him. His phone is still in the building."

"He'll find his way back." Natasha said, offering Steve a hand up and he gratefully accepted.

"Shame you didn't get revenge Steve." Clint winked, with a smirk.

"Well I put the fear of God in him, so I think he's learnt his lesson." Steve chuckled a little. He was still pissed, but well, at least he was fine and not going crazy like he'd thought, and Tony was certainly getting a handle on the power. All in all, it was a relief. Though hopefully it would mean Stark would stop trying to mess with him.

"Right, so we wait do we just wait for him to get back now, or do we try and find him?" Natasha asked.

"I'd have thought he'd be back by now?" Bruce considered.

"Yeah, wasn't he getting the hang of this?" Clint asked.

"Look guys, it'll be fine, Jarvis is on it. It's not like this is the first time its happened." Natasha reasoned.

…..

Tony opened his eyes and was nearly blinded. He groaned and rolled over, blinking as the sunspots danced in his eyes. As he lay for a moment panting in something soft the world started to come into focus.

"What the actual..." Tony sat up and rubbed his eyes. He was covered in sweat and his skin felt like he was burning. Grains of sand and dirt where sticking to his clammy skin and he was surrounded by it. Sand and small shrubs. Fuck he was in a desert. He scrambled to his feet.

"Oh, come on!" He yelled, kicking at the sand and pulling at his hair. "This is not happening." He muttered. It looked nothing like the desert he'd been stranded in 5 years ago, praying someone would find him, but it was enough to get the panic spiralling in his head. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. This had happened before, all he had to do was get a read on one of his friends and anchor then poof, he'd be back in New York.

But whether it was the adrenaline, or the heat or whatever, there was nothing. In fact, he felt strange, he felt… human. It was hard to explain how he'd felt since he'd taken off the inhibitor, but it was like he was unknowingly connected, to well… everything. Now he felt like he'd been cut off, like the connection was fuzzy.

He knew Pepper was on business today, so he'd been reaching out to Bruce, but it wasn't working. He could see where he was, but it was like there was interference. He gave up and tried Pepper, hoping that the 'bad signal' could be overcome with a stronger connection… he always found it easier to reach out to Pepper, but it still wasn't working. In fact, now he felt the pain welling in his temples, the burning through his body. He broke the connection and opened his eyes, but the world was hazy. He felt faint. He dabbed his nose and registered the blood. He felt his breath leaving him and he was falling before he could realise what was happening.

When he came to it was cooler, but still baking and his throat was killing him. He made a move to sit up when he noticed he wasn't alone.

"Hey, take it easy buddy. What the hell happened to you?"

Tony grunted and looked up at the face towering over him. It was an old guy, ragged skin and a grey bushy beard.

"I'm fine." Tony said, taking the outstretched hand which hauled him to his feet. "And _that_ , is a very long story."

"You want a lift back into the city? I'm assuming that's where you came from."

"Ermm yeah, about that…" Tony croaked. "Where the hell am I?"

"How long have you been out here?"

"No idea. What day is it?"

"It's Sunday. 7 am"

"Sunday? Shit." It had been Saturday when he'd left, or at least he thought it had been. He tried to take a step, but staggered and the man grabbed him before his feet could disappear from underneath him.

"Damn man, how much did you have to drink?"

"Drink?" Tony brushed off his helper's hands as he started to feel more stable.

"Yeah son. You're in Indian springs, we're just outside Vegas and well, I know who you are and your reputation, so I just figured…"

"I got drunk and went for a walk in the desert. Passed out?" Tony huffed, coughing a little on his parched sand filled throat.

"Isn't that what happened?"

"Not exactly." Tony dabbed his pockets, damn it, he didn't have his phone. He must have dropped it while Steve was chasing him round the tower. "You have a phone?"

"In the truck. Come on. Got some water too, bet your thirsty."

Water. Hell, he could drink a gallon of the stuff, right now.

"Yes, that would be great."

…..

"Tony what the actual…"

"Bruce, will you calm down. I would have called sooner but…"

"A whole day Tony, a whole god damn day, do you know how worried we all were?"

"Bruce would you let me explain please?"

"Fine, where are you?"

"Indiana springs? Indian springs." Tony corrected. "Just outside Vegas."

"Vegas?"

"Yes. And as for why I didn't call, I was stranded in the desert."

"Why couldn't you get back?"

"I'm not sure, I think I'm out of juice."

"Out of juice?"

"I'm cut off, CAEB's not playing ball. I tried to get back and I passed out."

"Are you ok?" The voice was suddenly very worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just exhausted. I think that's why my powers are off, I just…"

"It's ok Tony, we'll send out the jet. I am putting a tracking device in that god damn inhibitor when you get back though."

"Huh, hadn't thought of that."

"Yeah well, it's usually the obvious stuff you miss. Are you sure you are ok?"

"Yeah Bruce, I'm good, I'll just go check into some hotel casino in the city and see you this evening."

….

"Bruce what's going on?" Natasha demanded as he walked back into the room.

"I found him." Bruce said. "Or more accurately he called."

"Oh, thank God." Pepper sighed in relief.

"Before you ask, he's in Vegas and he says he's fine, but he couldn't get back. Something about his batteries running out, he feels like he's run out of juice."

"What you mean the CAEB ran out of batteries?" Steve asked, and Bruce nodded.

"Can that happen?" Natasha asked, glancing at Thor.

"Stark's power will be limited by his physical strength. So, I would assume that fatigue will limit his abilities."

"Trust him to teleport to Vegas and conveniently get stranded." Clint chuckleled.

"This isn't funny Clint." Bruce bit back.

"Sorry, I didn't…"

"I know. I'm sorry." Bruce checked himself.

"Let's just all take a breather ok, Tony's safe, he'll be back here soon. Disaster averted." Natasha instructed. "Get some rest, you all look like crap.

…..

"Christ man! You had us worried." Clint pushed himself out of the chair, and stood, unaided on only slightly shaking legs as Tony appeared out of the elevator.

"Looking good Clint." Tony smiled weakly.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Clint asked, his face slipping straight into concern. Tony did not look good. He was pale and, in all honesty, looked less stable on his feet than Clint did.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"Jarvis get Bruce." Clint didn't believe a word of that and Tony hadn't even tried to sound convincing. And he didn't argue, which was concerning in a whole other way. "Hey, sit down, you look like crap."

"I'm just tired." Tony sighed, trudging to the sofa and laying out his full length.

"Your mojo still drained?"

Tony just chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Clint frowned.

Tony just shook his head, covering his face with his hand.

"Tony?" Rhodey stepped into the room closely followed by Bruce.

"Tony what's wrong?" The scientist crouched down by the engineer and moved his had away from his face.

"Can one of you get Pepper?" Tony grunted.

"Sure Tony, she'd on her way up." Rhodey smiled.

"Tony? You're burning up." Bruce frowned.

"I'm not surprised." Tony scoffed.

"Tony cut it out, tell us what's wrong." Rhodey bit.

"CAEB is going haywire."

"Haywire how?"

Tony sighed and turned onto his side. "I'm going all trippy… It's hard to explain."

"Just try Tony." Bruce implored him.

"Ermmm, it's like interference, like I'm picking up billions of different channels in my head all at once, there are noises I can here, voices, that I know I shouldn't understand, but I kind of do… but they're all too quiet. This, the real world it's still the strongest signal…"

"But its fading?"

"Not fading. The others are getting stronger. Then I can see this stuff Bruce. You know when your alone in a room but feel like you aren't. That's because you aren't."

Clint went a little white. "What?"

"It's not actually in the room per say but I keep seeing flashes, of things, beings… they must be on a different plane or something but…" Tony grunted and grabbed his head.

"Tony?"

"Fine."

"No, you're not." Bruce huffed. "Ok, is this like before, when the inhibitor came off?"

"Yes. But I can't… I can't anchor this time it's not working."

"Pepper's coming up now."

"I'm not sure it's enough." Tony panted.

"Why is this happening?" Bruce asked.

"How should I know!" Tony yelled, his face then twisting in pain.

"No, I mean… there has to be a reason. Something must be causing this."

"Are you fighting it again, maybe you just have to relax, let it happen?" Clint offered.

"Believe me I'm not fighting it. I can't."

"You can't?"

"I'm too tired. I haven't the strength."

"Not strong enough… Tony, Thor said the CAEB's power is limited by your strength and that fatigue…"

Tony laughed. "You saying all I need's a good night's sleep. I slept all the way back on the plane."

"You've been using your powers a lot recently… Did you mean to zap away earlier, or was it an accident?"

"It was shear panic, Steve had me trapped..."

"Ok, well let's try and void that sort of situation in future." Bruce said sternly.

"Tony?" Rhodey asked, noticing his friend was staring blankly off into space.

There was no response from Tony.

"Hey, come on man, focus. We're here."

Still nothing.

"TONY!"

Tony's eyes glowed blue.

…

Bruce's voice was no longer distinguishable, just a muffled background buzz in the screeching, violent onslaught that was battering senses he never knew he had. It was too much, everything was burning and now he looked back he couldn't even feel his world amongst the racket. There was nothing to anchor to any more, he was lost. But the more he thought about it the more he realised that there was one set of noises louder than the others.

Well what the hell, he wasn't supposed to be fighting this and he can take a hint. If he couldn't anchor back into his world, maybe it was time to let himself anchor where the voices were shouting loudest.

…..

"His eyes!" Clint gasped.

"Yep. Room Now!" Bruce ordered. They needed to get him to somewhere dampened against his powers and his room was both closer and more comfortable than the workshop.

"Clint? Why did you… Tony!"

"It's ok Pepper, just taking him to his room."

"What's going on?"

"Come with us, we'll explain in the way." Rhodey told her.

Rhodey lay his friend down and backed away quickly, leaving Bruce the space he needed. Tony's eyes had slipped closed as he'd gone from this weird catatonic state into utter unconsciousness.

"Hell, he's really burning up. We need to get this fever down now!" Bruce hissed. "Pepper you got to talk to him, try drag him back somehow."

"Why Bruce how bad is it?" She asked anxiously.

"He's 107.2, normally that's near fatal, with the CAEB, who knows but we can't risk it getting any higher."

Rhodey was already back with cold water and wash clothes, but Bruce doubted that was going to cut it.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Natasha, get me ice now, as much as you can. Steve run a bath. Cold water ONLY!" Bruce ordered and the other moved without question. "Thor is there anything you can tell me about what might be happening?"

"I'm sorry Doctor Banner…"

"That's fine Thor, but I'm getting a little stressed so if you, Clint and Rhodey could wait outside that would be appreciated. Pepper you stay."

Pepper didn't look up, she just kept talking to Tony holding his hand tightly and trying to bring him back to reality.

….

Tony focused on the voices he could make out, they were human, or they sounded it. They were screaming. Fear and terror started flooding him. Was he feeling their emotions? It all felt so very familiar, this had to be humans… what was happening? Where they under attack? He had to get back, if an attack was happening he needed to be there!

As his on panic mingled with the emotions that were being forced upon him he felt the anchor start to lose his grip and he was pulled back towards the void of a billion realities he'd been lost in before. He took a deep breath. He was being shown this for a reason, he could only follow through with it and hope it was right, hope that once this had finished with him that he could return home.

He let the fear and terror fill him up again and the voices became clear. 'This can't be happening again' 'Where's my son?' 'God not again!' 'help me someone!' 'run!' 'Please'.

Cries for help cascaded into his mind. Most were in English, accents he was familiar with but also the odd foreign tongue, that he understood as clearly as his own language. He wanted so badly to try and pull away from the panic that was growing and overwhelming him, but he knew he couldn't. The voices became more intense as he tried to relax and let this happen.

.…..

"Ok, fever's down. Thank God that worked." Bruce sighed.

"Should I get him out?" Steve asked, holding Tony's head above the ice filled water of the bath tub. It was so cold his own hand was getting numb and giving him unpleasant memories.

Bruce checked the thermometer. 99.4 F. He nodded. "Yeah he should be fine now."

As Steve lifted Tony as his soaked clothes dripped onto the carpet, Bruce helped him wrap Tony in a towel before they got him back to Pepper.

"Bruce?"

"It's much better." Bruce confirmed to the shaking Pepper.

"Does that mean he's through the worst?"

Tony answered them immediately as his body began to tremble.

"It would appear not." Steve grunted. "Seizure?"

Tony began to shake more and more violently, and Bruce ushered for them to all stay away.

"Yes, I can't say I didn't expect one when his fever went so high."

"What do we do?" Steve asked.

"Nothing, just make sure he doesn't hurt himself... fall off the bed or anything."

Pepper turned her head away in anguish, but Steve's hand quickly found her shoulder to offer comfort. This wasn't fair. This just wasn't right, every damn time! It was never over, there was always something else to face.

"Bruce!" Steve's voice yelped in horror. Pepper flicked her head back around and cried out at what she saw.

Blood. Blood was pouring from Tony's nose, but that was nothing new. It was erupting from the corners of his mouth and eyes, streaming down his cheeks.

"Bruce!" Pepper yelped.

"I… I don't know what to do! There's nothing… He must be haemorrhaging internally I..."

"Bruce do something!"

…

Suddenly the voices were joined by noises. Tyres screeching, the blasting of horns. Explosions. A scent of terror that was far too familiar. Then suddenly he could see. Images of streets flashing in front of him, but it was more than that. He was standing there with them, running, as fire rained down. Each second a different street. Landmarks he knew well. A police car flipping outside Macy's as a swarm of creatures emerged from nowhere into the street. This was New York in battle just like before, but he knew this wasn't the incident. He couldn't get a glimpse of the creatures that kept chasing him as he inhabited different bodies. Nobody cared evidently about what was chasing them, just that they were being chased. His head was starting to ache more and more with each change of scene. Then he heard the noise, that roar of an engine he knew all too well. Something sliced through the air knocking everyone to the ground before the location changed again. The craft they had fought in the Bronx. Then suddenly he was up high, looking down from a roof top at the chaos below. He knew this balcony. This was his balcony! He felt himself draw an arrow. Great he was body jacking future Clint. He ignored the strangeness of the situation and the screaming fire in his brain and let himself capture the scene below. There were glimmers of blue in the streets below. Portals everywhere. Swarms of forms below, racing through the streets, descending on the people bringing with them fear and destruction and death.

And as the pain got too much it ended. He was torn away and flung back to where he'd come from. There was only one voice now that came through loud and clear.

Pepper.

And she sounded terrified.

….

Tony gasped for air, his back arching. He savoured the air like he'd been deprived for years. Panting he looked around, his eyes stung but he could see he was back.

"Shit Tony, stay down." Rhodey, that was Rhodey.

Tony gasped again, but this time he felt something thick in his throat and he choked, spluttering on the thick metallic substance in his mouth he lurched to lean over the edge of the bed.

"I need a map now!" He spluttered out. And then everything went black.

…

"I need a map now!" Tony sputtered, choking on the blood that had forced its way up his throat. He leaned double over the edge of the bed as his body tried to expel it from his throat then suddenly went limp again.

"What the?" Steve started.

"Tony?" Bruce cradled the limp engineer and laid him back down.

"What the hell was that!" Pepper yelled, hysterically.

"What the hell is going on?" Natasha barged in.

"I'm not sure, but I think it's over." Bruce said hurriedly. Tony's vitals were returning to normal but there were some factors still seriously off. His blood sugar was dangerously low. Every sign was saying he was utterly drained. He'd said he was tired, but this was extreme.

"Ok everyone, let's have a breather."

A quick IV set up started giving Tony what his body needed to start recovering, but Tony still lay still for several hours before there was any sign of life.

…..

"Well that was one hell of acid trip." Tony chuckled as he blinked his eyes open.

"Tony."

"Hope I didn't freak you out too much."

"Tony that wasn't funny. Not in the slightest." Bruce said darkly.

"What happened?" Tony asked with a frown of concern.

What happened? You tell me! I thought you were dying and there was nothing I could do."

"Bruce…"

"Bruce take a breather." Natasha stepped into the room and guided Bruce away.

"What the…" Tony protested, then grunted clutching his head as pain radiated through it as his change in position.

"Tony what happened?"

"The CAEB, sent me off on… well into the future actually."

"The future… you mean you saw what's coming."

"Yeah, well… kind of." Tony grimaced. "Look it's hard to explain, but let's just say it's been one hell of a lot more useful than those damn dreams were."

"How useful?"

"Potentially game changing, but I have a few ideas, I need to piece things together, give me some time in the lab..."

"I don't think anyone's letting you in the lab for a week. You're on bedrest for the foreseeable future." Natasha scoffed.

"Bit of an overreaction, for me going all trippy on your asses. I'm fine, well, I feel like I've got one hell of a hangover but…"

"Tony you were spewing up blood and bleeding from your eyes. Consider us all pretty freaked out."

Tony went silent for a moment. "Ok, not so much of an overreaction. I was what?"

"You understand why Bruce is a little stressed now?"

"Why didn't you guys lead with that? Kind of important information!"

"Look Tony… You're ok now right?"

"Well, I thought I was but now how can I be sure?"

"Well let's just leave it at that ok? You mentioned you needed some time in the lab, but did you get any idea of how long a time frame we have till this thing hits?"

"Again, it's complicated. What I saw wasn't like an event poster. Apocalypse 8:30pm on June 5th come join the fun!"

"Tony…"

"I have lots and lots of pieces. 100's of snapshots, each one of them holds clues I've got to go through all of that and see what it tells me. Build up a picture."

"You asked for a map."

"I did, and I still need one, but I have a better idea."

"When did you come up with this better idea? In the 2 seconds between you speaking and passing out!"

"Probably, I don't know... This is me we're talking about."

"Are you going to share with the class what this brilliant idea is?"

"Not at this juncture… I need to check its possible first."

"Why don't I like the sound of that?"

…...

"We need to get him out of there. Today." Bruce said sternly.

"Guys he's working on stuff that a going to give us the edge over this 'massive attack' that's coming. Maybe interrupting him aint the best idea." Clint threw his hands up.

"Clint, he's been down there for a week… That's a long time even by his standards and remember what happened the last time he got tired and stressed." Rhodey reminded him.

"Ok point taken."

"Besides, reprogramming Jarvis into locking down the lab and not letting us in isn't exactly a healthy sign."

"So, knock down the door or try and reason with him?" Steve asked.

"Reason if you want, I'm pretty sure it isn't going to work."

"I don't understand, it is not normal for a human to go so long without sleep or sustenance, so why does Stark continually behave in this way."

"He doesn't do it on purpose… Or at least I don't think he does." Rhodey started. "Call it the quirks of a genius. Once he gets his head into something it takes over all his focus and the other stuff, the stuff humans need like food and sleep, well they don't fit on his list of priorities."

….

"Tony, time to come out now, play time's over."

"Go away I'm busy."

"I don't care."

"One more hour… please I'm so nearly there."

"You said that three days ago."

There was a moment. "That was three days ago?"

"Yes."

"Is Steve going to break down the door if I don't come out."

"Yes Tony, I am."

Tony sighed. "Fine, don't break the door I do not have time to replace that right now."

It took a few minutes, but the door clicked open and an incredibly dishevelled engineer came into view.

"Tony seriously?" Rhodey looked at him in annoyance.

"Oh, give over Rhodey, you'll see why this…" He gestured at the state of himself. "Was necessary in 15 minutes when you meet me upstairs."

"Tony?" Bruce asked questioningly.

"I need to tell you all this before I pass out so 15minutes…" Tony stumbled off. "I seriously need a shower." Tony muttered.

….

 **I'm sorry I've been neglecting this fic a little, as I've said I hope I can get updates out more regularly for you, at least for a little while.**

 **I know how frustrating it is to get short chapters that don't move the plot forwards, so I'm doing my best to find the balance and please give me some feedback.**

 **Please Guys... Just a line in that review box makes any writers day and helps us keep going through long fics like this. **I guess after such a long time I'm eager to see if you're still enjoying this and my writing is still up to scratch.****


	29. Chapter 29- I See You

**Ok, regularity has worked out a little better. Hurray! Pushing on to the end a little more now. I can't give you a timespan, you know I get carried away.**

 **Writing this chapter has given me all sorts of ideas that I'm really looking forward to writing.**

Previously

 _With the inhibitor finally removed and the hell of the merges over, Tony has been getting some control over the use of the powers when he decides to prank Steve with his shoelaces. Steve has his revenge, chasing Tony through the tower resulting in him teleporting in panic and getting stranded in the desert outside Vegas._

 _The fatigue has sent the CAEB haywire and when Tony returns he's trapped in a vision of the future that Tony thinks he can use to build a picture of what is to come._

 _Tony locks himself in the lab for a week trying to figure it out before the Avengers drag him out…_

Chapter 29- I see you.

Bruce wasn't best pleased about this. Neither were Pepper or Rhodey by the looks on their faces. Tony had crawled out of his lab, had a shower and downed three cans of Red Bull in the kitchen just to stay awake enough to talk to them.

He was so tired he looked drunk. Bruce couldn't be entirely sure that he wasn't… though stoned on caffeine was probably a more apt explanation for the way that the Engineer was currently staggering into the common room in search of a chair.

"Ok guys, this is what I have." Tony swayed a little of his feet, before a half annoyed, half concerned Rhodey shoved him down into a chair rather roughly, muttering something, most likely an ultimatum, in his ear before letting him continue. "So, in my little trip to the future I was seeing events through other people's eyes, well more living it actually. I was body jumping, getting loads of different glimpses of what was going on."

"Glimpses?" Steve asked.

"Yes, like lots and lots of little clips, 74 to be precise, from different people's perspectives, in different places each a few seconds long."

"Not that I'm doubting you Tony…"

"Cos that would be stupid." Tony smiled, challengingly.

"Yes, but…" Steve sighed. "How on earth can you remember anything from flashes a few seconds long, yet alone get anything helpful from them?"

"Well, apart from my Eidetic Memory the CAEB seems to have seared said clips into my brain so I can re-run them at will however I like. It's kind of useful actually, my brain's sort of turned into a DVD player."

"Are you sure you're not an android?" Clint looked at him sideways.

"If you have a photographic memory Tony, how come you can never remember your social security number or the date and time of the meetings I tell you are compulsory." Pepper grumbled.

"I think what Stark has, Pepper, is a selective photographic memory."

"Ok, Ok, berate me later. Can we get on, so I can go to sleep, please?"

The room went silent in anticipation and Tony shivered a little, his eyes wide and manic from the prolonged caffeine overdose. Pepper's frown only deepened before Steve draped a blanket round the frail engineer's shoulders.

"I'm pretty sure what I was seeing was very early in the attack, I'm talking first contact. There were portals, lots of them and I'm pretty sure that we are talking about is an induced phase boundary… Ok, stupid human words that you'll understand… Ermmm they are going to use the weakness left behind from the initial tesseract event to splinter the walls between our reality and there's. But as we know, the tesseract portal didn't just weaken the point where it opened, its created many weak points… All of which are going to open up and worryingly, a lot of them appear to be at street level."

"Splintered reality? How many are we talking?" Steve asked, alarmed.

"Just hold on Steve, let me get there."

Tony held up his hand and paused a moment, struggling to regain his trail of thought.

"So, I'm going to take one example… It was a street with a portal. I saw Macy's, so it's easy to pinpoint that exact location of that one... Herald Square. There was a police car getting flipped, but it wasn't one of the current squad cars… I did some research and the NYPD are changing their fleet to newer models in 2 months' time."

"So, we have at least that long." Thor nodded.

"Longer I think… What date is it by the way, I've been a bit preoccupied?"

"11:15am June 18th." Steve reeled off emotionlessly.

"Thank you. Ermm…" Tony looked around lost. "What was I saying?"

"You think we have longer." Clint prompted.

"Right." Tony's head clicked back into gear. "The window display at Macy's… Christmas theme, which puts us any time after Halloween. Other things I saw gave me other pieces, names on Luggage tags outside the Plaza hotel… Are from an engaged couple; I looked them up, checked their credit cards, they're booked in for 4 weeks from October 21st for their honeymoon. Posters on streetlights and buildings advertising stuff between late October and mid-November… but obviously some of those things may have passed, posters aren't always taken down…"

"Can you tell us what you have managed to summarise Tony, we all love your deductions but months or not before this happens, you need to sleep sooner rather than later." Bruce warned.

"Fine, yes, concise… I can do that…" Tony started tapping incessantly on the arm of the chair. He was high as a kite on caffeine and Rhodey was half way to stopping there and dragging him to bed.

"Tony you're rambling." Pepper warned him.

"I know, I know… ermm, I narrowed it down to a Wednesday in November, I don't think it will be the last Wednesday of the month, but I can't rule it out. Portals are going to open between 4:25 and 4:40pm."

"How the hell did you figure that out?" Clint rolled his eyes.

"I got a roof top view, from you actually." Tony smiled.

"From me?" Clint looked at him like he was mad, until he realised Clint was completely serious. "Was I walking?"

"Well you were on your feet at least Birdbrain. You were on the balcony out there, I saw the position of the sun, worked it back using the time of year once I'd narrowed it down... We have at least 38 portals, but I know that I didn't see the entire city. I have managed to get 30 of those down to a specific street."

"What about the other 8?" Natasha asked.

"Someone who can do math!" Tony exclaimed.

"Tony." Pepper scolded.

"I don't know every inch of the city and not every street I saw had a landmark I recognised. For one of them, all I have to work off is a McDonalds and there are a fair few of those in New York! Though I'm sure Clint's been to all of them so he might me able to help…"

"Hey!"

"Tony focus please." Bruce rubbed his forehead, now feeling almost as exhausted as the engineer looked.

Tony huffed and continued. "Look… It's going to take time to work out the rest, I mean I've resorted to digging up people's parking permits! Basically, I'm working on it and I have a couple of ideas like I might have a way to get the position of the portals I didn't get shown."

"How?" Bruce asked, intrigued.

"The data from the portals that have been opening, the tesseract readings, the location I already have, I may be able to put them together in an algorithm…"

"That will let you predict where the walls between world's will shatter." Bruce finished. "Tony that will be next to…"

"Impossible I know! But I'm me, you're you and I'm definitely going to need your help on this one."

"You have it."

"If I had a year I'd be confident I could go one better and figure out how they were going to splinter reality and find a way to counteract it."

"You think you could potentially stop this from happening at all?" Bruce looked dumbstruck.

"Not in the time frame we're looking at, not unless I'm even more of a genius than I realised… but what I _may,_ and that's a tentative may _,_ be able to do is build something that is able draw the energy… from the portals and use it to re-stabilise the boundaries between worlds."

"So, use the portals to close the portals?" Clint asked.

"Yes."

"Would it be permanently?" Natasha asked.

"Not sure. Probably not… but I have a potential solution to that too."

"Of course you do!" Clint said in awe."

"I'm hearing a lot of maybes and potentiallys Stark. We need concrete." Steve said with furrowed brow.

"Well, I think… I know I can do it, it's just a case of can I do it in time and what do we prioritise? I can't do it all and prepare weapons for you and get control of the CAEB and do battle strategies and upgrade my armour… each of those things are a full-time project and I really need 10 of me to get it done, but we've only got one me and…" Tony was trembling a little now, hyperventilating after his chaotic monologue. Pepper jumped up to sit next to him, running a soothing hand up his back and breaking him from the haze.

"Tony, Tony calm down, we'll sort this all out later." Pepper quieted the Engineer.

"I think that's enough for today." Rhodey stepped forward, expecting that to be the end of the conversation.

"The technology you speak of Stark is highly theoretical even on Asgard."

"Thor." Bruce warned.

"Yes, but that's not stopped me before."

"Since you need assistance. Our Asgardian scientists would be incredibly eager to assist you in the creation of the things of wish you speak."

"I don't play well with others."

"Tell us something we don't know." Clint smirked.

"Just stop now ok? Tony you need to rest, we can sort all this out later." Bruce implored them.

"No wait, just one more thing. I need you to get onto it while I sleep so we don't waste any time."

"What is it Tony."

"The enemy."

"The enemy?" Natasha asked.

"Turns out people who are running don't tend to stare at what's chasing them, I didn't get a great look and it's definitely more than one foe… those wolf like creatures that we've seen before."

"Great. They were my favourite." Clint groaned sarcastically.

"But there were worse ones, bigger, faster, stronger and stunning I mean… they were like a… I can't even explain, I'll try draw them later, but the point is I saw one of those invisible, agile craft you dragged me into fight. So, someone better get SHIELD to hand me over whatever we have left of those bastards, so I can figure out a better way to kill them than last time."

"I'll get on to Fury, get it shipped over here." Natasha nodded.

"Tony this is brilliant, honestly the advantage this puts us at… We can get the city cleared, keep the civilians safe, mark the point where the portals will open. Hell, they'll walk straight into a trap we've laid for them."

"It will be great if it can work like that Cap, and I really hope it will be that way, but I can't help feeling this is all a bit too easy." Tony said stoically. "Now if you will excuse me I have 7 days sleep to catch up on. I'm surprised I haven't already passed out I think I stopped feeling the caffeine about 30 hours ago."

"Well I better make sure you make it onto something soft before you do pass out." Rhodey rolled his eyes.

…

The room was dark and basked in a faint purple glow. The walls, black as obsidian, glistened with moisture and appeared cold and sharp. In fact, the icy air prickled at his skin in a way that felt like his insides were freezing. The glow itself was coming from those jagged rocks enclosing him, small flecks of luminescent purple speckled through the dark. Somehow the low ceiling felt crushing, like they were buried deep, far away from anywhere the light or warmth could reach.

There were low mutterings from further along the tunnelling chamber, hushed voices spoken in a tongue composed of growls and hissing sounds that seemed as sinister as their location echoed through the chasm. As he ventured deeper into the cavern of black rock five figures came into sight. They were huddled in the small space, crammed around a table. They were much larger than him, squashed by the rock above them, unable to reach full height, that rock ceiling which he could barely reach. Their faces were covered by unshapen masks made of the black rock that surrounded them. Each figure donned a material of different color, a fabric not unlike leather, but more crude and robust. He imagined it was the skin of some other creature.

One Navy, One black, one silver, One green. The largest wore pale blue.

Could they see him? No. They would have reacted by now. He ventured further into the room until he could make out the words being spoken.

This was unlike any of the dreams Tony had, had before, it was more like the projection of himself he had created when he'd walked the streets of York, unseen and in pursuit of Pepper. He felt like he was there. This was real, and it was happening now.

"Earth will not be easily won. The Chitauri invasion did prove that." The Navy monster hissed into the darkness.

"As have our preliminary incursions." Green said solemnly.

"These Avengers have slain them all." The black creature shouted in rage.

"The Chitauri are nothing compared with the might of our forces." Silver scoffed. "There is no contest. Humanity will fall."

"We will not underestimate the human." Green spoke forcefully, black eyes boring into the silver clad creature across from him. "That was The Other's mistake. If Thanos failed…"

"Our people have basked in the dark for too long. We need to march into the light, gain the glory we deserve." Silver roared.

"I thought you wiser than this Edraskil." Green spat at the creature in silver.

"We have stayed hidden long enough!" Edraskil cried.

"Enough!" The pale blue figure spoke for the first time. All others at the table bowed their heads and the very cave they were in seemed to shiver at his words. "Have you forgotten why we retreated to the nether dimension, why we cower?"

"But the CAEB is no longer. The Asgardians bind its power in their dungeons as we speak. If the one thing that can destroy us is powerless, then what have we to fear?" Edraskil asked, humbler of tone in the presence of their clear leader.

Tony's heart thundered. They knew of the CAEB, but they didn't know of him. They thought he was on Asgard.

"I can sense events on Asgard. Humanity will not be alone in defence of their planet. The Prince, Thor, son of Odin protects Earth. We will face the full might of Asgard in this." The pale blue figure growled.

"My Lord Kairon, Asgard is no match for the Makluhk."

"They may or may not be, but I don't want this to be a battle. I want this to be a slaughter. We will send a single Makluhk and see how it fairs while we allow our energies to gather. It will not be easy to force open the cracks in reality and summon the power to transport ourselves to the surface. The algorithm is complete, all that is left is to combine our power and trigger the machine."

Kairon ran his hand over the parchment on the table. There were rough calculations scrawled all over it, but one line in particular that drew Tony's eye, an algorithm scrawled across the top. But he couldn't see it all, the end of the equation smothered by Edraskil's arm.

Tony reached out to touch it for himself, avoiding Kairon's fingers in remembrance of the connection it sometimes granted him. He didn't want to become anchored here. His hand floated straight through the table.

"Now there is one thing we have all failed to take into account."

The others looked at their leader in confusion.

"We still do not know how that human managed to destroy our stealth craft."

"How is that of consequence?" Edraskil retorted.

"The energy used was not like all I've sensed before and it was powerful. That human is clever, way beyond his own world. He is known among the stars from the battle of New York."

"He is just a human."

"Yes, but what you have all failed to notice while you sat here squabbling, is the energy that has been following us in the room. We are being watched."

Tony froze. Crap. Kairon was looking straight at him, but he knew he still couldn't be seen.

Kairon raised his hands and a blinding flash of Orange light hit Tony square in the chest and he stumbled. The world became solid. He'd been dragged into the room.

A hand wrapped around his throat and claws sliced into his neck. Tony gasped as he was slammed against the freezing walls.

"I see you!"

…..

"So… ignoring the fact of how unexpected this was, all this info, it can only be a good thing right?" Clint waltzed into the room, clearly loving the new-found freedom of being able to walk further than to the kitchen and back, though his steps looked a little laboured and shaky.

"You've done enough walking for the day." Natasha instructed.

"But it's only noon." Clint wined.

"Crutches or sit down."

Clint huffed and went for the sitting option since he's left his crutches in his room.

"When Tony wakes up we'll look over the info he's gathered and start strategizing. Liaise with Fury and SHIELD." Steve said.

"I've set up a meeting tomorrow." Natasha informed him.

"It would be useful for me to return to Asgard with this news. It may be wise for me to return with some of my most trusted allies, so we may begin planning our defence of earth conjointly."

"Sounds good."

"Pepper back at work?"

"Yeah, she saw Tony to sleep, which really didn't take long then had to go to a meeting across town." Rhodey confirmed.

"About his theories… I just popped down to the lab and… I'm completely and utterly lost by what he's done. It makes sense at the start but as it goes on it gets less and less coherent I can't tell if its utter genius or the ramblings of a mad man." Bruce rubbed the back of his head in concern.

"We'll sort that out tomorrow, Tony's been on caffeine fuelled rampages in the lab like this before and yes, what's he's worked on has hardly made sense afterward but its rarely wrong. He just tends to overcomplicate it and make it complete nonsense to anyone but himself." Rhodey explained.

"Whatever it is, I think it's evident that we haven't got time to risk preventing the portals opening, that would be the perfect solution, but if even Tony thinks he can't manage it in time then, he'll be wasting the little time we do have." Steve announced.

"I can take some of the workload, but I think we need to convince him to work with the Asgardian scientists."

"I don't think he'll be as resistant to it as you're imagining." Rhodey mused. "He's stubborn, not stupid."

"Either way I believe that all this preparation is for nought if Stark cannot grow stronger with his power. It is the CAEB of which the prophecy speaks and its power, not of Science and warriors." Thor reasoned.

"Yes, I agree, but we know that we can't force that…"

An almighty crash from down the corridor cut Bruce off mid-sentence. Natasha had her hand on a gun before any of them could even blink. There was a sound od desperate wheezing echoing into the dimly lit room. A figure burst into the darkness, created by the shadows of the midday sun, stumbling and muttering repeatedly in a foreign tongue.

"What the?" Steve frowned, hand tightening round the gun under the table.

"Rïsa brakka Vergarí. Rïsa brakka Vergarí. Rïsa brakka Vergarí. Rïsa brakka Vergarí."

They knew that voice, though it was trembling, choking almost. Spluttering out words they didn't recognise, laced in a sinister inflection.

"Tony? What are you doing?" Rhodey asked with a frown.

"Jesus he's only been in bed half an hour." Bruce exclaimed.

"Tony, you need to sleep." Natasha, stepped forward a little, putting her gun away despite all her senses telling her something was wrong.

Tony was walking towards them, staggering, eyes wide. Manic. Rhodey walked forward to grab his shivering friend, but Tony flinched away violently.

"God Tony your neck!" Rhodey reached out again, eyes trained on the bruising and claw marks barely visible in the dim light. "Jarvis lights."

The room was illuminated further, lifting away the shadows and there was a gasp in the room as the others saw the damage. Tony was white, eyes sunken and rimmed with dark circles. His lips were tinged blue, eyes nearly black with fear as his pupils remained dilated even in the light.

"Rïsa brakka Vergarí." Tony muttered again.

"Tony that's not English!" Rhodey tried to shake his friend out of it and Tony looked at him confused, like he didn't know he wasn't making sense.

"They saw me." There was an audible sigh in the room at hearing Tony's normal voice. "I've fucked up."

"What are you talking about?"

"They saw me." He repeated again, breathing getting faster and more ragged.

"We heard you Tony? But who?" Natasha asked calmly.

"Tony, you need to calm down, you're going to hyperventilate." Bruce implored, but Tony's breathing did not even out.

Tony looked around the room edgily as Rhodey managed to get closer to him.

"Tony, calm down, you're safe." He said softly. Rhodey reached out and put a firm grip around Tony's shoulder. The billionaire was shuddering under his grip and Rhodey almost withdrew his hand at the freezing burn of Tony's bare skin.

"God, you're freezing!" Rhodey hissed.

Tony grabbed onto Rhodey's shoulders, arms rigid, both grappling for support and keeping a distance.

"Stark, who saw you?" Thor demanded.

"Kairon."

"Who the hell is…" Clint started.

Tony's legs caved. His body went limp but Rhodey had a tight hold of him.

"What was that?" Clint asked in shock, getting carefully to his feet as Rhodey lowered Tony to the floor.

"Rhodey your hand." Bruce grabbed Rhodes by the wrist and turned his hand palm up. There was an angry red burn mark in the centre of his hand where he'd grabbed Tony.

"He was freezing." Rhodey explained and Bruce quickly and gently tapped at the skin on Tony's arm.

"Well, he's ok now." Bruce sighed, Tony's temperature was normal.

"CAEB?" Natasha huffed.

"Has to be."

"A dream? Now, after all this time, when he's desperate for sleep." Clint frowned. "And the thing last week, this can't be some coincidence."

"We don't know what happened, all we can do until Tony wakes up is wait and I'll look over any data Jarvis collected."

"Jarvis, how is he?" Steve asked the ceiling.

"Sir's collapse was a result of exhaustion and hyperventilation. All CAEB energy signatures have receded to expected base levels."

"Ok, so get him back to bed and we're on rotation this time. No leaving him alone." Steve ordered.

….

"I'm getting a little sick of waking up like this." Tony groaned and got to his feet before his body or anyone else in the room could protest

"Nice of you to join us." Bruce's voice broke through the darkness as the lights slowly ebbed them into brightness. His tone was angry, the words spoken in blame and spite and it made Tony's blood boil.

"Bruce can you cut it out with the snide comments. I'm sorry ok, I'm sorry I keep freaking you all out but it's not like I'm doing it purpose!"

Bruce stayed silent for a moment, letting his own annoyance bleed away as he realised what the real issue was. He was just worried about Tony and he was sick of seeing him put through the ringer.

"I'm sorry Tony. I know." Bruce sighed. "Do you remember what happened?"

"How could I forget."

"So…"

"I thought it was a dream, but it felt real… I think I was really there this time."

"Well the marks on you neck would suggest you were."

"I wasn't solid at first. It was projection, like before, but I wasn't on earth. It was this cavern, trapped underground made of glowing black rocks and it was cold Bruce. It was freezing."

Tony hadn't even realised he was panicking when he felt Bruce's arm round his shoulders. "Hey, Tony it's over."

"I know, but at the same time it's not. I can still feel it. And I can still fear the fear and anguish of every single person I body jumped and…" Tony stood back up, not remembering having sat down. "I should be working. I haven't got time for this."

Bruce gently grabbed his arm.

"No Tony, you need to tell me what happened first, then you need to rest. Then we'll have a look through what you got and show the others."

"Bruce, we both know I can't rest"

"Screw all that Tony. This isn't on you it on us. You are not alone, prophecy or not, its never going to be just you."

Tony swallowed. Alone. That empty feeling, he knew too well. His mind was drawn back into the remembering the recurring dream he'd had since this started.

 _He searched for a familiar face, but there was none to be found. All there was, was ash. Dancing flames. The taste of smoke. Shattered concrete and twisted metal. Blood._

He was alone.

"Tony!"

Tony took a deep shuddering breath. "Sorry."

"No, tell me what's wrong."

"Just remembering. I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine Tony." Bruce said a little disappointedly. "Can you carry on, or do you want to rest?"

"Its fine." Tony stretched his neck out and sat a little more upright. "There were 5 figures, these creatures, they wore masks, but they were huge. They were trapped there, and they are the ones that have orchestrated everything so far. They are trapped in a nether dimension, apparently to hide from the CAEB."

"So, they know about you?"

"I'm not sure… They thought the CAEB was trapped on Asgard, but their leader… Kairon, he sensed me there and hit me with some orange energy blast that's when I became solid, like he dragged me there. I don't know if they know I'm the CAEB, but they knew who we all were. From New York."

"So, this Kairon grabbed you by the neck I'm guessing."

"Yes. Then I woke up and I was just, panicked exhausted, I don't really know how I got to you."

"Ok, so we have a name…"

"Two. Edraskil was another and there were calculations, an algorithm…"

"The algorithm we are looking for?" Bruce said hopefully.

"I think so, but I would have to check."

"That's fine Tony, that's brilliant, talk about a win…"

"Bruce, there's something else… They are going to send another attack. A single creature by the sound of it, something called the Makluhk."

"A single one."

"It's a final test, they are confident, but they are not going to underestimate us. They seem to think that these Makluhk are much stronger that the Chitauri, but they still want to see how we fair against it. They also want to know how I took down the craft."

"So maybe its best that we don't bring our A-game to that fight… play them at their own game. And we need to keep you a secret, if they were hiding from the CAEB…"

"Yes, I get it, Bruce, but if they know I was watching anything we do they will be suspicious of. Besides I don't know if we can afford to go easy, these things sound pretty bad."

"We'll talk with the team soon, just for now, get some rest."

"I'm not tired."

"Then go do something normal, something that'll take your mind off all of this."

"How long was I out for?"

"Two days."

Tony sighed. "This is getting ridiculous."

"I know. So, go outside, live for a few hours. Don't think about saving the world."

"Fine Bruce, only if the rest of you do."

"Ok, we'll make it a team thing. We're going to need it if we're going to get through this with our sanity."

Something normal. What even was that anymore? He thought he'd known once, so maybe that's exactly where he needed to go. He couldn't escape the overwhelming amount of fear that was filling his every fibre, but maybe he could overcome one small fear.

Tony got up slowly and patted Bruce on the shoulder.

"I think I know exactly what I've got to do. Thanks, Brucie."

….

 **One line in that review box is all I ask guys. Is anyone actually still here?**


	30. Chapter 30- Strategy

**Guy's its been 2-years! 2-years! Thank you so much for sticking with this and for all the reviews on the last chapter I cannot express how much it means to me. Thank you guys so much.**

Previously

 _With the inhibitor finally removed and the hell of the merges over, Tony has been getting some control over the use of the powers. All goes well for a short while until a prank with Steve's shoelaces ends badly for Tony and he ends up teleporting in panic, getting stranded in the desert outside Vegas._

 _Drained and tired, the CAEB stats going haywire when Tony arrives back at the tower, trapping him in a series of flashes of the future and giving him some vital insights on the battle to come._

 _After spending a week in the lab Tony has started to build a picture of what is coming, including narrowing down the date, but despite being severely sleep deprived he has a 'nightmare' almost straight away._

 _Tony projects and see's 5 monstrous creatures plotting their assault on New York. The leader senses his presence and uses an orange energy to make him physical on their plane._

 _A hand wrapped around his throat and claws sliced into his neck. Tony gasped as he was slammed against the freezing walls._

 _"_ _I see you!"_

 _A semi-delirious Tony staggers into the path of the Avengers before passing out, waking 2 days later to fill Bruce in on what he witnessed._

 _Chapter 30- Strategy_

Clint stood in the stairwell, looking at the final flight of stairs ahead of him. He was late, he knew that, but he'd decided to avoid the others for the past hour and take the stairs down to Tony's lab. He knew that they wouldn't have let him if they'd known what he was planning and although his back was aching, and his legs were burning, he'd made it this far without too much of an issue. In fact, he felt kind of good.

Tony had called a meeting that was supposed to have started 5 minutes ago and to be honest Clint was nervous. They were supposed to be getting the big unveil on what Tony had managed to piece together between his two 'episodes' and Clint was starting to wonder if anything Stark could have found would be worth the cost.

The guy was cooked, he'd heard about the streaming blood from his eyes and he'd seen the state of him when he's stumbled into the common room and it made him feel sick. Stark had agreed to this, and they'd agreed to let him take things his way, to trust him… and it's not that he didn't trust Tony, he was terrified for him.

If a couple of teleports and a shoelace prank could drain the guy, how on Earth was he supposed to beat an army with this power? Sometimes he felt Tony was being treated like a tool; a tool to predict the future, a tool to find the solutions; a tool to win the battle. But at what cost? He knew the others cared too, but Bruce had been weird lately… the day when Bruce had nearly hulked out on Steve, not long after their latest battle something had changed. Bruce looked at Tony differently and it wasn't long before Rhodey did too. The looks weren't as obvious now, but they were still there, and Clint was no idiot. He could read people. They were looking at him like he might try and end himself at any time.

Was Tony really suicidal? It wasn't hard to believe given what he'd been through, but it was the last thing anyone would expect from the charming, charismatic, enigmatic engineer that everyone loved to hate.

He could only hope that Tony was ok and would be ok. And also hope he wasn't too much later to this goddamn meeting or Natasha would be running around looking for him.

He took a deep breath and began on the last few steps boldly, gripping tightly onto the hand rail. Maybe he should have picked something a little less ambitious, but God be damned if he was going to let it beat him.

…..

"Sorry I'm late!" Clint announced as he walked confidently, but a little stiffly behind the team. He saw Natasha's eyes flash with pride and happiness at the way he was walking, then a quick glimpse of concern before the inevitable…

"Where are your crutches?" … And there it was.

"They asked for a day off the cheeky bastards… and I had to give it to them, I mean workers' rights and all." Clint tutted in an Oscar worthy performance.

Steve chuckleled as Natasha thwacked him round the back of the head gently.

"So… where's Tony?" Clint asked, looking around the room.

"I actually couldn't find him, told him to take some 'normal person' time a couple of hours ago, then got the message to meet him here, like the rest of you." Bruce shrugged.

"Should we be worried? Perhaps friend Stark is in trouble."

"I'm always in trouble Thor, you should now that by now." Tony announced to the room as he walked in.

The way he moved was different, Clint noticed it straight away. He looked relaxed, calm, more like that Tony they'd seen perform for the camera's, but much more natural somehow. He was dressed down, or down for Tony, in a light blue Tank top and sweat pants. His dark hair was damp and messy like he was straight from the shower, but most noticeable was the glint in his eyes. Clint frowned in contemplation. What could have possibly changed in the last few hours that would have affected Stark so positively.

He decided not to question it. Never look a gift horse, right?

"Late to your own meeting." Steve smiled.

"Fashionably as always." Tony grinned broadly. "Right, let's get this show on the road. Jarvis!"

Tony clapped his hands twice and the room lit up in blue. A holographic projection filled the room around them and they looked up in awe.

"What are we looking at?" Steve asked. The thing around them looked like a weird grid, overlaid with a spider like network of connected points and markers.

"This is my giant spot the difference map of New York." Tony announced proudly. "Each of these markers, is a sight I got a glimpse of, zoom in…" Tony pulled the nearest marker to him and two nearly identical projections of street level lined up side by side.

"… And you get the now and the will be shot of these points. I have Jarvis running a program looking for details as they match up… e.g. missing posters, different adverts on billboards, Menus in restaurants windows, measuring the similarity between the now and future sites and gathering a percentage score…"

"You're monitoring how close each site is to being the same as you saw it in the future." Bruce confirmed.

"Yes, when that reaches 100% we're at the big day. Jarvis is monitoring how quickly the changes are progressing towards the final event, it will take a few weeks to get a suitable average, but he should be able to narrow it down to a single Wednesday."

Tony took a breath.

"Basically, everything I know or work out will be in this matrix, we have the known portals, the spiderweb, is just me doodling trying to get something visual for my calculations. In my little strangulation dream…" Tony paused and thought for a second. "I'm guessing Bruce filled you in?" He checked.

"Yep, 5 monsters want to destroy earth." Clint said simply.

"Right, well, I saw a glimpse of the algorithm they are going to use to predict and force the opening of the portals. Now, I hate to admit this, but it isn't making a whole lot of sense to me at the moment."

"What!" Clint gasped in mock horror.

"Yeah, Yeah, shut up feathers. I thought it might be easier to try and at least get part way to figuring it out myself and then I might have a better idea. In terms of civilian protection, every hotel is now showing as fully booked, as are all trains, boats, planes, concerts etc… you get the picture. I've minimised the influx of people here over the target days, but that's all me and Jarvis can do without getting proper authorisation and crowd control from Fury."

"How are we going to clear the city for this? People aren't just going to want to move out for weeks on a maybe." Clint grunted.

"City wide evacuation is our best-case scenario, removes casualties from the equation, but I don't think Fury is going to go for it and the panic it will cause will be huge." Steve mused.

"Look, I rescheduled the meeting with Fury to tomorrow, we'll figure out the logistics then. The alien craft you asked for is sitting in Bruce's lab upstairs, we got it for you while you were knocked out."

"I already started having a look at it Tony."

"That's great, find much?"

"I'll show you later."

"Great."

"May I have a copy of this to take to Asgard." Thor gestured at the projection. "It would be of great use to informing my people of what we have found."

"One step ahead of you." Tony rooted around in the mess that was his desk and pulled out a small square device. "Fingers crossed this should be compatible with your Asgardian tech, but basically this is like an intergalactic cloud network now. Anything we put in on earth, will show up instantly on Asgard too, and equally anything you work on, input it into the matrix and we'll be notified. It didn't take me long to realise that I couldn't do all this myself… on this time frame anyway, so this was my solution."

"Is that a task list?" Natasha smirked.

"Yes, it's a task list, I'm giving Norse Gods a task list to save our planet." Tony shrugged, as if was a completely normal thing to do.

"Well, ironically not actually the weirdest thing that's happened since the incident." Clint conceded.

"And I have one for SHIELD as well, and a list of suggestions for Fury to propose to him tomorrow. "

"He's going to love that." Natasha smirked.

"What time is that meeting by the way, I believe I was sleeping at the time?"

"10am." Natasha informed him.

"Jarvis add meeting with fury at 11am to the calendar."

Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Right, well you lot get out of my lab, I have work to do. Honestly, standing around making the place look untidy. Shoo!"

…..

"I haven't seen that suit before." Pepper frowned a little as she walked up behind Tony, who was stood in front of the mirror, threading his tie round his neck. "Is it new?"

"Not new, new. But I don't think I've worn it before." Tony shrugged as Pepper dusted off the shoulders of his suit jacket.

"Tony, why are you going to this meeting with Fury?" Pepper said with a frown.

"Because unfortunately we need him, well not him… SHIELD and he just happens to be director at the moment." Tony sighed. "And I dare him to give me another excuse to break his nose." He growled.

"Tony." Pepper held him gently by the shoulders and turned him away from the mirror, so they were face to face. "I know you're nervous." She smiled, taking his hands away from his tie and starting to tie it herself. "The very fact you're are wearing that suit says your nervous." She gently pushed the knot up and moved her hands to his collar.

"You know what? I'm actually not." Tony said, a smile tugging on his lips. "I just hope he's got shoelaces."

"Tony seriously." Pepper scolded, a smile playing on her face. "Perhaps using the powers that SHIELD fear so much on their own director isn't the best idea."

"Yeah well, I aint too fussed about hiding it anymore. I need to practice and after what he did Fury is fair game. He pisses me off, he's going to know about it."

Pepper really didn't like the sound of that, but she decided not to push it. "Please just be careful." She compromised.

"I promise." Tony slid on a pair of black tinted sunglasses and Pepper quickly took them away. Tony frowned as she opened a draw and pulled out a different pair offering them to him. He put them on with an amused look on his face and considered them in the mirror. They were his custom made black and gold frames with translucent red lenses. He hadn't had a chance to wear them, but for today he wasn't sure he liked the fact that he could still see his eyes through the lenses.

"You think?" He asked her a little sceptically.

"I know." Pepper smiled. Tony Stark wasn't Tony Stark if you couldn't see his exasperated eye rolls.

"Then just one more question remains." Tony raised an eyebrow. "Which watch should I wear?"

…

"Oh shit!"

"Clint what is it?" Steve asked in concern.

Clint just gestured with his head, getting Steve to look out of the car window, to where Tony was talking animatedly with Pepper as he walked towards the vehicle they were all waiting in.

"What, Tony?"

"No, his suit."

"What about his suit?" Steve asked in confusion. He had to admit Stark looked good, but there was nothing remarkable about it that Steve could see, other than the fact it almost certainly had an enormous price tag attached.

"That's a 'don't fuck with me' suit." Clint blinked. "Fury is seriously in for it."

Tony was walking towards to the car, having left Pepper's side and now, with a serious expression on his face, Steve could see it. Tony looked like a different person. Formidable, controlled and pride be damned Steve felt more than a little bit intimidated by the version of Tony Stark that he was currently faced with.

"This meeting is going to be fun." Clint smirked, and Steve just gritted his teeth.

"Is Pepper not coming?"

Clint smiled. "Nope."

Great. So, Steve was on Tony control.

This meeting was going to be a disaster.

….

"Stark." Fury said quietly, with was that a hint of regret in his eye? "I didn't expect to see you here."

Tony didn't so much as glance at the Director as he entered the room, immediately taking the seat opposite Fury at the large rectangular table. Steve wasn't sure if this was to be as far away as possible from the man who had held him captive and forced the inhibitor on him, or to keep him in his direct line of sight. Maybe it was a little of both.

"Well someone has to be here to make sure you don't have any more stupid ideas." Tony said, no emotion evident in his features. "How's the nose Nick?" He added, and Fury opened his mouth a little, before clamping it shut.

So that was how this was going to be.

"Ok, let's get down to it shall we." Steve said quickly, positioning himself in the seat to the Engineer's right. Bruce sat next to him, with Thor taking the space closest to the director. On the opposite side of the table Natasha sat across from Thor with Clint next to her, leaving the space opposite Steve empty.

"I received your proposal Stark…" Fury said as he sat down, and The Avengers looked at Tony a little in confusion. Tony had been in contact with Fury already?

"I took the liberty of sending the matrix ahead. We don't have time to waste sitting here explaining things." Tony clarified.

"Right. So…" Clint began.

"I understand the request for assistance in evacuation of the city… If there is something coming like you say…" Fury interrupted, but Tony cut him off.

"I'm just going to jump in here and say we can't afford to be working on if's, Fury. We haven't time for you to question everything we tell you. Just accept I'm right and this will go a lot easier."

There was something dangerous in Tony's eyes, but Fury looked at him stoically, holding his ground. Steve looked tense, Bruce looked amused and Natasha, Clint and Thor seemed perfectly uninvested in Tony's behaviour, content to just watch.

They were all still pissed with Fury and Steve was too, but he also harboured the guilt that his decision was the reason for the animosity in the room. So, as usual, he felt responsible for trying to keep this diplomatic. They did need SHIELD's resources after all.

Conversation soon broke out across the table as civilian protection was discussed, but Tony had calculations running in his head. He had to figure out this algorithm if they were going to have any chance of putting together a useful battle strategy. At the end of the day, there were only 6 of them… the Asgardian army would be providing the brunt of their force and they needed to coordinate.

He was logging the conversation, but it took far more than some idle discussion to keep Tony occupied and his supercomputer of a mind was already beginning to demand further stimulation. He was already growing bored and worse, frustrated. Fury seemed to be reluctant to submit to a full-scale evacuation of the city, which didn't surprise Tony in the slightest, but if he was going to control his very strong and justified anger toward the one-eyed man at the other side of the table he needed to get on with something else.

Tony leant back in his chair with a loud and ceremonious sigh and lifted his feet onto the table in front of him, setting them down with a thump. He pulled out his phone and started typing.

"Tony what are you doing?" Steve asked in hushed voice so as not to interrupt the others. Natasha and Fury hadn't broken off their conversation, but it had disrupted them a little, eyes flitting their way.

"What I always do… whatever the hell I want." He said plainly. He saw Steve grimace, but Bruce looked unbothered. His aim was to frustrate Fury, not Steve so he leant over and tapped him on the shoulder. "Just working on some calculations, you guys carry on, I can multitask." He waved his hand in dismissal.

Tony seemed to be paying no attention at all, and as the meeting wore on Fury's shoulders were slowly growing higher as he gradually became more and more tense. But, the Director needed what Tony knew and he very was very much relying on the billionaire's good graces. Stark could sit at the other side of the table and make his life hell and he couldn't do a damn thing. He just had to be glad that currently he seemed to uninterested to be doing so. Tony didn't have to answer to anyone in that room and he was hard enough to handle when he didn't have the upper hand, if he decided to be difficult now, there was no way of stopping him.

The minutes ticked by and Tony soon realised that he was struggling to work on the device he had in his hand. It was slowing him down. He needed to physically write this down for a change. He still had the memory of the algorithm he'd seen, but this was so incredibly complex he needed to derive it for himself. And he needed paper. But he didn't have any.

Fury on the other hand, was old school. He wasn't taking notes as such but had an A4 notepad just sat there on the table in front of him. Bingo.

Tony took his feet off the table flamboyantly, stood up wordlessly and leant over the table. He realised he was still too far away from his target, so he shuffled his hips onto the edge of the solid metal surface and stretched out an arm to swipe at the paper.

"Since you aren't using this..." Tony strained as his fingers brushed and then clamped down on the notepad. He dragged it across to his side with a grunt of effort, knocking his chair as his legs flailed a little in his struggle.

Clint couldn't conceal a chuckle. Tony Stark, dressed in the most expensive suit he's ever seen and the most powerful person in the room had decided that behaving like an utter child was the best way to get to Fury. And he was right.

The discussion halted for a moment, both Steve and Fury holding their tongues as Stark settled back in his seat and pulled a pen out of his inner jacket pocket. He didn't look up as he started writing, completely ignoring the mix of incredulous and amused looks that were being thrown his way.

Tony quickly scrawled down the piece of the algorithm he'd seen, in large writing across the entire sheet. He tore it out roughly, not caring about the noise it made and set it down in front of him as a reference, then set to work.

Steve was regretting sitting next to Tony. The man was scribbling down what looked like hieroglyphics with what must have been the noisiest pen known to man. He would occasionally stop and ponder his next steps, whilst incessantly drumming said pen on the table. This was often followed by a lurid sigh and angry scribbling before the sheet was loudly torn out of the notepad. The worst of it though, was that he then crushed said sheet noisily into a ball and tossed it flamboyantly over his shoulder, before beginning the process again.

It was annoying, distracting and so very Tony.

Bruce was trying to engage in the conversation, but it was proving rather difficult. Hulk was pissed and there was a constant nagging sensation in the back of his head telling him to leap across the room and tear Fury into several pieces. If Bruce was honest with himself, it wasn't just the hulk that wanted to do that, especially with how Fury was currently trying to block them at every turn.

If only for the sake of his sanity, he was trying to ignore whatever Tony was doing, though he did take a glance and chuckled internally at the now rather large pile of paper balls that was growing behind Tony's chair. It seemed Fury had noticed as well and small cracks were starting to appear in his ice man façade. Bruce was just about to interject on something Natasha had said when something sharp and pointy bumped lightly into his temple.

He looked around to see a paper aeroplane fall to the floor beside him with a thunk. Steve looked defeated, his head in his hands and Bruce simply frowned in query at the only person in the room who could be the culprit.

"Stark!" Fury was now glaring at the man opposite him.

"That's my name." Tony answered flippantly, gesturing at Bruce to unfold the origami he'd just retrieved from the floor. "Did you want something or are you just mesmerised by my presence?" Tony tilted his head to the side and raised his eyebrows, locking his gaze onto Fury.

Fury took a deep breath and decided not to respond, but the way that Stark was now staring at him from across the room and the eerie silence that accompanied it was making him feel very uncomfortable.

When Fury shifted in his seat a little and subconsciously rubbed a hand over his brow Tony grinned internally. Bored of making Fury squirm he sat back and watched as Bruce started reading the calculations he'd sent in the form of the paper aircraft. The Scientist's eyes slowly widened, his eyebrows rising progressively as he got further down the page. He glanced at Tony in disbelief.

"Stark." Fury called his attention again.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yes Dear."

"May I ask what this so evidently astonishing about that piece of paper?" Fury said condescendingly

Tony looked to the ceiling in consideration, but for a moment. "Ermm, No."

"No?" Fury said disbelievingly, anger creeping into his tone.

"No."

Tony smiled briefly and then returned as if nothing had happened, pulling out his phone again.

"Stark, I am well aware of our grievances and the fact that you are not under SHIELD's employment, but you came to us with a problem which I am trying very hard to find a solution to. Surely it would be in your best interests to share with me anything you find."

Tony yawned. "No, not really."

"Tony?" Natasha frowned a little, the novelty fading a little for her.

"It's need to know, and Fury doesn't need to know. Now can we please stop stopping? You wouldn't want to make Steve miss love island."

"Tony, what the…" Steve started.

"Ok. We get the picture." Natasha interrupted and after a few more moments the discussion tentatively resumed. Tony was going to do everything he could to disrupt this meeting, they had to do their best to ignore him.

…

 _'_ _Hey Bruce.'_

The voice was Tony's, but it sounded different, it was incredibly clear, cutting through the noise in the room yet not overshadowing it.

Bruce looked over at the man in question who was studying him intently. Bruce then glanced around the room. No one was looking Tony's way, he couldn't have just spoken.

 _'_ _Nod if you can hear this.'_ It came again but Tony's lips hadn't moved.

Ok. This was weird. Is this what he'd done with Pepper?

Before Bruce had chance to nod in response Tony's voice came again.

 _'_ _I'm sorry I'm freaking you out.'_

 _'_ _Can you hear me?'_ Bruce asked internally.

 _'_ _Yeah, it looks like this thing is two way.'_

 _'_ _Right and, do you know everything I'm thinking?'_ Bruce thought hesitantly.

 _'_ _No! I wouldn't… but I think I could… I'm not sure, the point is I'm not going to try. That's just creepy.'_

 _'_ _Agreed.'_

There were a few minutes of silence from Tony and Bruce started to relax. This was weird, really weird, but kind of useful at the same time. Tony was trying things, getting control step by step, though maybe doing it whilst in the same room as Fury wasn't the best idea.

 _'_ _Bruce I'm bored.'_

 _'_ _Tony, what am I supposed to do about it.'_

 _'_ _Talk to me.'_

 _'_ _I am actually trying to listen, unlike you.'_

 _'_ _I am listening.'_

 _'_ _Really?'_

 _'_ _Yes.'_ The voice sounded in mock hurt.

 _'_ _Why don't you go back to your algorithm if you're bored.'_ Bruce huffed.

 _'_ _Can't. I'm stuck.'_

 _'_ _You're stuck.'_

 _'_ _Well, not stuck, I know what I need to do, I just need a computer to run it all.'_

 _'_ _Why don't you annoy Clint, he looks almost as bored as you.'_

It all went silent for a while and then Bruce started to notice Clint glancing at Tony in a similar way to what Bruce had, when he'd first heard Tony inside his head.

 _'_ _Tony, I didn't mean it literally._ ' Bruce scolded mentally.

 _'_ _Well it's too late now.'_ The reply came.

After a while the look of disbelief faded from Clint's face and was replaced by the occasional smirk or snigger that he was trying very hard to conceal.

Suddenly Clint's eyes went very wide and his face blushed a bright shade of red. Natasha gave him a sideways glance of confusion but decided it was less important than what was being said. Clint snapped his head to Tony and glared at him, mouthing an angry 'stop it!' his way, to which Tony just gave a wry smile and a shake of his head.

"So, this third location here, is not at street level we'll have to use some sort of shielding system to contain the..."

Fury was cut off as Clint suddenly burst. He'd been trying to hold in the laughter, he really had, but the last image had come as a complete shock and he just cried out in laughter. Tears streamed down his face, which was bright pink, and he half collapsed on the desk as he dissolved into laughter.

"Agent Barton explain yourself!" Fury demanded

"I'm sorry…" Clint choked out between sobs of uncontainable laughter. "I can't!" Clint stood up and left the room as quickly as possible. Once he was out of the hall, he let himself fall to the floor clutching his stomach. His howls of laughter could still be heard in the room despite the thick walls that separated them.

It was 20 minutes before Clint had composed himself enough to come back in.

…

"So, that's all you are offering?" Steve asked in disgust. "Narrow down the date then you'll think about it."

"It's not good enough, we can't rely on containment plans and damage minimisation strategies. We are in the perfect position of foresight, if we'd had this in New York, so few people would have died. We need to evacuate… we need to keep the people safe!" Natasha protested.

"The simple fact is I can't evacuate a city and cause worldwide mass panic based on Stark's potentially delusion nightmares. The council and I, still consider him a threat. His story needs ratifying before we move on."

The room went silent and eyes flicked instantly to Tony, who had now sat up and crossed his arms over his chest, an unreadable expression settling on his face.

"You need convincing." Tony stated, a look of consideration on his face. "I think I might be able to help with that."

Tony sat himself up straighter in his chair and took a deep breath.

Then his eyes flared blue.

And then, more worryingly, so did Fury's.

"Tony!" Bruce exclaimed standing up.

Fury gasped, falling backwards off his chair and scrambling back the wall as he regained his composure.

"What did you do?" Steve demanded.

Tony sat in his chair calmly. "Just a little memory transfer."

"Memory transfer?" Bruce asked in confusion.

Suddenly the doors slammed open and here were guns everywhere, mostly pointed at Tony, then Natasha and Clint had pistols in their hands, standing between Tony and the SHIELD agents.

"Whoa, ok, let's just sit back down and talk about this." Steve held up his hands, trying to calm the quickly escalating situation.

"What the hell was that?" Fury demanded shakily. His head was pounding, emotions that weren't his own still flooding his system.

"Those were the delusional nightmares I have been warning you about Nick."

"That's what you see coming?"

"The condensed version yes. Still think I'm the threat?"

"No." Fury said after a pause. "Stand down." He ushered to the guards. "We're good here."

The guards didn't look hugely convinced but left as commanded. But Tony, CAEB still fizzing at the surface could feel them just outside the doors, waiting nervously.

"So, we're on the same page." Tony asked, with a flick of his eyebrows.

"Yes… but… no, I mean." Fury sighed and regained himself. "My offer still stands. We can't evacuate the city for a month."

Tony just huffed a sigh. "Whatever Nick. Your funeral. Oh wait, no, it will be everyone else's!" He rubbed under his nose briskly and sighed again sat the small blotch of blood on his thumb tip. He instantly felt Thor's hand on his shoulder.

"Are you ok Stark?" he asked above the ruckus that had broken out around them. Everyone seemed to be shouting at each other.

"Fine Buddy. Best I stay sat down though I think." He grunted. He had to admit he was feel a little shaky, at least Fury looked just as bad.

"Director if we don't start putting something in place, it will be too late. Last minute plans will cost people their lives." Bruce argued.

Clint was really pissed. And confused. Tony had shown no interest in challenging Fury's decision and it made no sense. "You can't seriously be ok with this, you've seen what's coming and…" Clint whispered across to Tony but stopped abruptly. Tony wasn't there. "What?"

Tony was now on the floor on his hands and knees, head under the table.

"Stark? What…" Fury said, now feeling incredibly confused and a little worried.

Bruce had no idea what the billionaire was doing but seeing him crawling around under the table was making it very difficult to keep a straight face.

"Just checking if your shoes had laces."

"Tony No!" Steve said in horror. Clint lost it for a second time. Natasha elbowed him hard.

"Shoelaces? What the hell are you talking about?" Fury asked as Tony, completely unflustered stood up, smoothed down his suit and sat back in his chair.

"Right, that's it, this has gone far enough." Natasha said firmly.

Bruce bit his lip. Tash was right. "Come on Tony, we're going." He nodded suggestively to the billionaire.

"Actually, we're not done." Tony announced, standing up.

"What is it Stark?" Fury asked sincerely, still a little pale

"I knew you wouldn't do anything Nick. You spy's are all the same, to afraid of the light to do anything meaningful. The rest of them came here to make some sort of strategy

"I'm just informing you out of courtesy, you know what that means right? Courtesy? If you don't, just look it up in the dictionary, you might benefit… Anyway, I'm borrowing a couple of your agents from your bus, but Phil's not been answering his phone calls so I was wondering where he's at?"

"Phil?" Steve asked in confusion.

"You cannot give my agent's orders Stark."

"Well, I think you'll find Coulson would much rather listen to me than you, and as for Fitzsimmons, well they adore me."

"Coulson." Thor stood up abruptly, shifting the table unwittingly.

"Coulson!" Steve went white.

"How do you know about Coulson?" Clint asked in confusion.

"Agent Coulson was killed by my brother." Thor said in confusion.

"Not dead." Bruce sing-songed.

"What!" Steve exclaimed. "Who knew about this?"

"Tony, me, Rhodey…" Bruce started.

"I knew." Clint put his hand up.

"Of course, I knew." Natasha said. "We're still SHIELD agents."

"So, it was just me and Thor who were in the dark on this." Steve said aghast.

"It would appear so." Tony smiled.

"How?"

"We'll get into that later." Bruce simultaneously calmed the captain and tugged on Thor's arm, forcing him to sit back down.

"So, where's my favourite agent hiding, Nick?"

"Stark you can't…" Fury started then, reconsidered. "Well actually, the team was on mission they have been out of contact for a few days."

"A few days?" Natasha said in concern. "That's unlike them."

"You think they're in trouble?"

"We know they are in trouble. Coulson doesn't miss a call in."

"So, what are you doing about it… you've not done anything about it have you?" Bruce frowned.

"It wouldn't be safe to send in an evac team, the area is too heavily guarded, they would be slaughtered, you on the other hand…"

"Then send us in." Steve read between the line.

"I'll send over the intel and leave you to it, just please inform me of your plan so I can set up some contingency should it all go pear shaped."

"Looks like we have a rescue to plan."

….

"What the hell was that?" Natasha cornered Clint when the

"Whoa, whoa what are you on about."

"You, losing it in that meeting."

"That wasn't my fault!" Clint protested.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously it was Tony!" Clint threw his hands up in the air.

"Yes, Tony was messing around, but it wasn't that funny."

"No Tash, you don't get it he was CAEB messaging me and he sent this image of Fury and he was wearing… Hell you don't even want to know." Clint started chuckling again at the

"Tony was sending you messages… telepathically?"

"Yeah."

"Right, ok I think we need to have a team meeting."

…

 **Probably a bit of a disappointing chapter guys, sorry if it was, I had planned to get so much more done, but well I'd already hit 6k and rather than keep you waiting any longer I've put it into the next chapter. If it's any consolation, the next chapter is shaping up to be a cracker!**


	31. Chapter 31- Time for a rescue

**I intended to do this last week, on the day of the actual anniversary, but I also wanted it to be a special action packed worthy update…**

 **So, on Monday the 22** **nd** **of August it was the 2** **nd** **anniversary of me posting this fi and it has been such an epic journey.**

 **This chapter will also take me past the 200K mark, so Happy Birthday CAEB! It's all the 2's.**

 **I had real fun writing this chapter and the ideas just flowed so I really hope that you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it and that I managed to do it justice. It has a little bit of everything!**

 **I'm amazed at where this story has taken me and the journey that the characters have been on… And there is still so much more to come.**

 **And to all the guests who have review thank you so much, I have seen and hugely appreciate your review, I'm just sorry I can't reply to you and tell you it in person like I can with the account holders… But know that it means the world, thank you guys.**

 **Here we go…**

Previously

Tony's powers from the CAEB pushed the team to the limits of their tenuous friendship in the early days, climaxing when Steve, scared by Tony's lack of control and the fact he hurt Pepper during a nightmare, phone's Fury behind the team's back, resulting in Tony's kidnap

On the bus Coulson and the team help rescue Tony from Fury, who had forced on unfinished neural inhibitor on him designed to control the CAEB. Tony leaves Fitzsimmons with his phone number in gratitude and Coulson an open invitation to visit and he becomes fully filled in on Tony's situation.

 _With the inhibitor finally removed and the hell of the merges over, Tony has been getting some control over the use of the powers. A prank with Steve's shoelaces goes wrong, and a drained Tony starts having visions of the battle to come, giving the team some very useful insights into the coming threat._

 _Bruce orders a stressed and exhausted Tony to go do something normal for a few hours and when the team net see's him, he has wet hair and looks a lot better. After filling in the Avengers on what he's pieced together the team meet with Fury, and its Tony's first time seeing the man since he left him with a broken nose on the Helicarrier._

 _Tony proceeds to act like a child, while the Avengers fight against Fury's obstinacy and refusal to evacuate the city without more concrete information before putting a new development in his powers to good use, telepathically conversing with Bruce and Clint as a distraction and then rendering Clint in fits of laughter having sent him hilarious images of Fury._

 _Annoyed by Fury's doubt in him and his intentions Tony then projects his memories at the SHIELD director, bringing him fully up to speed with what they face._

 _Fury accepts the threat is real, yet still holds back on evacuation plans, much to everyone's annoyance._

 _Tony informs Fury that he will be asking for Coulson and Fitzsimons's help, but they are out of contact and in need of rescue, which the Avengers instantly take up._

Chapter 31 – time for a rescue.

"Ok, rescue mission!" Clint said enthusiastically.

"Clint, no way, you can barely walk!" Natasha instructed.

"Come on Tony made me leg armour to help me walk." Clint protested.

"Oh he did, did he?" Natasha scowled in Tony's direction.

"In my defence, that is not for this, that's for the big battle if he's not back on his feet by then! And I made you all armour."

"At least let me sit in a tree and shoot a few bad guys."

"And what would you do if the need for hand to hand combat arose? How far would it set you back if you fell?" Natasha barked back.

"Even I think it's a bad idea you being in the field Clint." Tony chipped in.

"Come on Tony!"

"It's not worth it, would you on rather be in this little rescue and probably set yourself back weeks, or in the real thing fully fit,"

"Fine, but at least let me coordinate with Bruce in the jet."

"Bruce, medical opinion?" Steve asked.

"Come on guys, I'm not that sort of doctor."

"You've not shied away from it so far." Tony smirked.

"Yeah well, spines are a whole other thing… But I suppose it couldn't do any harm."

"Bruce you're my new best friend!" Clint stood up and patted him on the back.

"Just don't make me regret it."

"Right ok, back to the mission please." Steve instructed. "We need a confirmed location before we go any further, so Stark…"

"Already done on the way back here. Got visual of them being taken into a compound, Jarvis reviewed the footage none of them have left and is monitoring real time footage as we speak. Facial recognition pinged a particularly hostile mercenary behind the whole thing. South African, James Murdoch. He specialises in collection of alien tech and sells it to the highest bidder and has a particularly nasty reputation for his interrogation methods."

"I know his work first hand." Natasha grimaced. "Time is of the essence."

"Exactly, location is 3 hours away on the jet, I suggest we get out asses on it now and make up the plan on the way."

"We're not going anywhere till we discuss what the hell you were playing at on the Helicarrier in that meeting." Natasha said firmly.

"Oh, come on, you can't resent me messing with Fury a little bit."

"I'm taking about sending Clint… whatever you sent him."

"Aww the little Hawk embarrassed by his boss doing a strip tease."

"Tony that wasn't a strip _tease_ , that was a fricking porno! How the hell was I supposed to keep a straight face through that?" Clint yelped.

"Hang on, am I missing something here?" Steve asked in confusion.

"Tony was communicating with me telepathically during that meeting and when I told him to bother someone else, well apparently he was also sending… images to Clint."

"I'm scarred for life." Clint said miserably.

"That's why the hawk was laughing." Thor nodded in realisation. "I can see how such an image would provoke such behaviour."

"Thank you, Thor!" Clint exclaimed.

"Hang on, when did Tony start being able to communicate telepathically?" Steve asked.

"Exactly why I'm bringing this up." Natasha said. "You are supposed to be keeping us updated on these developments Tony. First memory blasting Fury and then this…"

"Guy's I was literally sat in that meeting bored off my face, so I started experimenting. The communicating stuff, was just something I tried and worked, I was kind of surprised it did to be honest."

"And with Fury?" Steve asked.

"It's hard to explain how I knew the thing with Fury would work, but this morning when Bruce told me to take a break I finally managed to de-stress for the first time in, well, years and its like my whole CAEB sensory system went HD. Before I could kind of sense roughly how people around me were feeling, just positive or negative, stronger connections I could only make between Bruce and Pepper easily, you know, the whole anchoring and teleporting thing…."

"And the time you spied on me and got Jarvis to wake me up before I got a crick in my neck." Bruce reminded him.

"And that." Tony conceded. "Now though, everything is stronger and clearer, it's like I'm hyper aware of stuff and if I don't block it out it's a bit too noisy. I haven't tried to because that's just rude, but I feel like I could even connect with your thoughts if I wanted to."

"Ok… I'm not sure what to make of that." Clint said.

"If I find out you've been in my thoughts Stark…" Natasha started.

"Oh God, no! I wouldn't want someone fucking about in my head, so I sure as hell wouldn't do that to you guys. Besides I literally can't connect to you Tash, unless I'm right next to you. You're too closed off."

"I'm what?"

"Testament to your awesome spy skills, Jesus!" Tony explained quickly.

"Ok, then well, progress is progress I suppose." Steve said warily.

"What de-stressed you?" Natasha asked.

"Just something I haven't done in a long time, it isn't important. But if you guys don't mind there is something I'd like to try with you… just so we can be on the same page."

"Go on…" Bruce encouraged, despite the hesitant looks in the room.

"It's just what I saw in that dream. I want you all to know what we're dealing with." Tony started. "I did it to Fury, so you might as well all be up to date as well. Thor you may even know the species, which would be a massive help."

"Tony, what you did knocked Fury on his ass." Clint reminded him.

"That was the emotional transference. I'm pretty sure I can filter that out this time."

"Well, I would be very keen to see your vision Stark. As you say it could be of great help." Thor nodded.

"Why the hell not?" Clint said enthusiastically. "Space themed acid trip sounds like fun."

"Fine." Steve agreed.

"I think I'll pass on hulk grounds… just in case you can't filter it out"

"Sure, thing Brucie."

"Ok, so who do you want first?" Natasha asked.

"I think I can do you all at once. You guys sure?"

"No, but let's get it over with." Clint smiled.

"Stark, if you are going to do this, we need to see everything you've seen, every dream, vision, whatever… don't hold back."

"Steve, that's a lot of info..." Bruce said concernedly. "Tony are you strong enough for that?"

"I think it'll be fine, but there is one I can't show you."

"Why?" Steve asked.

"I'm not trying to hide stuff from you guys, I'm really not, but there's one that I know I definitely won't be able to hold back on the emotional transference, it's… too much and you don't want to experience that. Trust me."

"We are in this together you know Tony? We can take it." Steve encouraged.

"No. Those are my terms. I won't relive that one."

"That's fine Tony." Natasha said firmly, more for Steve's benefit than anything else. "Let's get started then."

…

For a moment everyone was connected, their eyes brightening in a simultaneous flash of blue. Then they were bombarded with images, flashes. The first were very vague… Tony's pre-inhibitor nightmares. Then came the flashes around New York and finally the dark cavern and the monstrous beings Tony had described.

Steve watched and tried to get a focus on what they were facing. There seemed to be several species of assailant, there were the craft they had already fought, but the rest, were just flashes, shadows, vague outlines. It was frustrating, though he couldn't blame the people whose eyes they were seeing through for running rather than staring. He just hoped they could find out more about these creatures before the main event. Hadn't Tony said he could draw one? He had the benefit of pausing this melee of images that Steve was finding utterly overwhelming, if this was without the emotional transference he didn't know how Tony had coped.

Thor had to admit, he wasn't the most avid reader on Asgard, but he had faced almost every monster the nine realms had to offer and was aware of so many others across the galaxies, but he could not recall these. The craft nor the creatures storming the streets of New York and when it came to seeing the beings that had left Tony with a bloodied neck he was at a loss. The beings themselves, their masks, their dialect, everything was foreign, ancient even. And the energy they had struck Tony with he had not seen its like before. He had much to ask on Asgard. He would have to ask Stark to place an image of these beings into the device he had given him to take to Asgard, if not he would have to get his Mother to pull it from his mind with her magic and see if the Asgardian Scholars knew anything of these beasts.

Natasha realised this was mostly as Tony had described. There was nothing more to note than Tony had already covered. Stark had been thorough and although she had expected nothing less, but she was impressed nonetheless. These images were disturbing to say the least and Tony said he'd been able to feel everything that the people he body jumped had. He'd felt the pain of all of New York, but that wasn't what worried her most… It was the thing he'd said he'd omitted, because if he was willing to show them stuff this bad, how bad were the things he was holding back?

Well, Clint thought, this was definitely one hell of an acid trip. He watched the images with a mixture of horror and awe until he reached the view Tony had mentioned. He recognised his own hands drawing a bow, staring down from the balcony of Stark tower. The sight of himself back on his feet was amazing. He felt hope. Yes, he was walking now, and walking quite well, but he was so far away from where he'd been that on his low days he wondered if he would ever make it back to fitness. He knew it was nonsense of course, lesser men had come back from worse and that's why he took his frustrations out on his therapy team and not his friends. But he knew his loss of motivation had impacted his resolve. He could stand now, he could walk. It was time to get back in the gym, get his strength back. Pick up that bow he'd been avoiding.

Hawkeye was back.

…

Bruce watched as everyone in the room recoiled a little. It was seconds before the blue faded from their eyes and they were snapped back into the room, it lingered in Tony's a little longer but he seemed to come down ok. Bruce was caught between suspicious and thankful.

"How was the trip." He asked with an amused smile.

"Awesome!" "Enlightening" "Confusing." "Weird." Came a number of responses at once.

"Well, ok then." Steve said. "That was… Different, but I think we have a rescue to plan."

"Steve, just get on the jet… we've wasted enough time, sort it out en route."

"Tony, we have to do this properly ok, it's not worth the risk of making mistakes."

"Well, if you insist, Jarvis has the intel. Do you mind if you skip this bit? Fill me in later?"

"Tony are you ok?" Natasha asked, sudden concern crossing her features.

"Yeah." Tony said, but no one looked quiet convinced. "Look, I'm not going to lie, I'm probably a bit drained from that… maybe a nose bleed coming on, but that's not why I'm skipping out. I think I need to unwind a bit. It's been a tough day and my armour's going to take longer to prep than it will take you guys."

"Sure, Tony. You going to be ok for this?" Steve asked warily.

"Yeah, honestly, I'm fine, just trying to be sensible."

Bruce frowned, but Tony looked to be genuinely ok, a little tired looking maybe, but ok. "Shout if you feel off it, please."

"Sure Bruce." Tony waved with his back turned as he headed for the elevator. "Tell Jarvis to notify me when you start packing up to head out."

…..

He kicked lazily, four-beats per cycle, just enough to give him balance as he let his arms do the work. The coolness of the water flowed like silk around him. Stretched out onto his side, he let the water hold him as his hand, fingers slightly parted, searched for its grip, feeling for the catch point that somehow made the water feel as dense as a solid. His arm didn't move through the water, the water moved past him arm. Elbow high, fingers trailing along the line of his body they slipped into the water softly above his head, cutting through it like a knife through butter, not a drop of water displaced. He let himself get lost in the rhythm. It didn't feel as effortless as it used to, time had sapped his strength, but the motion was part of him. It would never leave. He didn't have to think about what his limbs were doing, they worked instinctively, and it freed his mind to do other things.

He could think more clearly here than he ever could on land, as his mind ticked off the times his feet met the wall, three strong kicks bringing him breaking through the surface. Counting gave him the background noise he needed to occupy and fully clear his mind. He was thinking about the CAEB, about what was to come, but there was no anxiety, no fear or dread, it was just… analysis. And it was easy.

200 metres to go. He wished he had longer, but he had estimated how long Steve's planning would take and he knew he was on a schedule. He put some more power into his legs, feet breaking the surface he could feel the wash he left behind him and the increase in speed it brought with him. His lungs protested a little, but the pace was comfortable.

It wasn't long before he was gliding sideways, reaching for the wall. His fingers met their destination and on instinct he twisted, looking at the clock. Speed hadn't been the purpose… If he'd cared about the time he would have pushed a lot harder. 1k just under 12 minutes, nothing special by his standards, but certainly not shabby by any means. In fact, he was secretly quite pleased.

He sighed and pulled himself out with his arms, planting a foot on the decking and standing up effortlessly. He looked back at the water longingly. He'd stay in there all day if he could.

If that had only been 12 minutes that meant he still had some time to kill. He wondered what he could do if he really went for it. He hadn't tried diving yet. Getting in was still the worst part. He had to take his time, relax, coax himself to put his head under. Once he was going it was fine. The cold didn't bother him anymore, nor the lights. But was he up for the shock of sudden submergence?

Of course, there was only one way to find out.

He stood on the block, pulled up to full height and looked across the pool. One deep breath, a quick shake of his shoulders, he gripped his toes on the edge and pushed his weight into his trailing leg.

'Take your marks.' He thought to himself. Hands gripped the edge of the block, body crouched and coiled.

'Go'

He was flying, just for a second; soaring through the air. His arms snapped up to his head, squeezing, fingers interlocking. The moment he hit the water he was free. He broke into the Butterfly leg kick, hard and fast, strength coming from his core and then the quick transition into front crawl and he broke the surface. He could feel his legs churning the water as he forced himself up to speed and then, he relaxed, letting his body take over and maintain the pace.

He settled into a rhythm, head down every fibre straining to go faster. He was only half way, but his legs and arms started to scream at him, his lungs demanded a breath but he didn't break his stroke, not yet. 5 pulls later and he breathed, lips barely hovering above the surface, but it was enough time to fill his lungs before his head went back down and he drove on. There was just one more breath before the end. His arm snapped out at the wall, rolling onto his side, every muscle stretching for the finish and he slammed into it hard.

Yikes. He panted for air, lungs suddenly compensating for that which they'd been denied. There was no way he could have held that for another 50… and he swore that a single length had never tired him this much before.

He pulled off his goggles and tossed them onto the deck above him.

"26 seconds." Came a familiar voice from behind. "Wasn't your best time 24? Losing your touch." Rhodey chuckled.

"Yeah. I never was a sprinter." Tony hauled himself out of the pool and took the towel Rhodes was offering him.

"Yeah, you are so slow." Rhodey said, voice laced with sarcasm.

"What you doing down here?" Tony asked.

"Can't I come see my best friend?"

"You're checking up on me." Tony smirked.

"Can you blame me? Last time I came to see you while you were training, I found you passed out face down in the water."

"That was over 20 years ago…"

"More like 30, but can you really say you've changed… Mr. 'I spent whole week working in the lab on no sleep' Stark."

"Rhodey I said I'd be careful and I meant it."

"Well I'm glad to see it and Tony, I'm really glad you've got over this."

"You know what? After everything that's happened it felt easy really." Tony rubbed the towel over his head, leaving his hair spiked up in all direction. "I've had so many bad memories since then, it's like… Afghanistan is nothing more than a blip now really."

"That's great and disturbing at the same time." Rhodey said with a frown.

Tony Chuckled. "Well, that's my life."

"So, the guy's upstairs are deep in a meeting. What's that about?" Rhodey asked, changing the subject.

"Off to rescue Coulson and his misfits so I can borrow his scientists."

"A mission? You sure you're…"

"Don't start Rhodey, I've just reset my head in there, don't go messing me up already."

"Fine Tony. Go get a shower, you stink of chlorine."

"It won't help you know, it clings. Besides I like the smell."

Tony looked back at the pool one more time and smiled with satisfaction. Fuck you 10 rings.

….

"You nearly ready? Wheels up in 20."

"Ah, Bruce, was just going to call you…" Tony said, discarding the holograph in front of him.

"Should I be worried?" Bruce stopped short for a moment and sniffed the air in alarm. "I smell chemicals, why can I smell chemicals? Tony what have you been working on, did you spill something?"

"Chill Bruce. I went swimming." Tony threw out casually.

"You… Hang on what?"

"I went swimming." Tony said simply. "Did it yesterday as well before I showed you all the matrix."

"That's what de-stressed you." Bruce said, realisation dawning on his face. "I'm guessing that mean it's going better than last time."

"Well, I have been working up to it, including dunking my face in the sink full of cold water, which took a couple of attempts, but yeah… It's going very well."

Bruce smiled at the fact that Tony was smiling. Tony had two smiles and this smile, the genuine smile, they didn't see nearly enough of.

"It's also helped me think over a few things. Like, why the hell I am still wearing this..." Tony tapped on the inhibitor on the back of his neck.

"Well, that was kind of your idea Tony."

"Yes, I know what I mean is why I am wearing this one? It's flawed, we knew that. We also knew we couldn't change it out for the improved version without disengaging it and at the time

Bruce's eyes lit up. "But it is disengaged, it's just sat there on the back of your neck as a contingency, there's nothing stopping us swapping it out."

"Exactly and this…" Tony held up another identical device, "Is the mark 2." Tony tossed it into the trashcan without another word.

"What the… Why did you… Tony?" Bruce rubbed his face in exasperation. "Enough with the theatrics, can you just explain?"

"Well you see Bruce, mark 2 is obsolete now. I put that on it inhibits the CAEB's powers and acts as a kill switch and that's not what we need anymore."

"Ok..."

"I'm trying to get control of these powers now, not supress them, kill switch, yeah, maybe we still need that…"

"Really Tony?"

"Better safe than sorry Bruce. Anyway, you know how using the CAEB drains me and there was all that stuff Thor said about the CAEB's power being limited by my strength, so why can't I make the inhibitor an… assistor. Despite the second brainstem, there are parts of the CAEB that aren't compatible with human biology, or any biology really, that's why it causes me physical damage."

Bruce frowned.

"Jarvis ran an analysis and discovered that using the CAEB powers damages my cells, like radiation, but then it repairs them, but it takes time because…"

"The act of trying to repair them actually damages them further before the damage is repaired."

"Essentially yeah."

"Tony, that's really worrying."

"Yes and no, I mean, yes, it is, nosebleeds aren't fun…"

"Tony, if these figures are right, you could be talking major internal haemorrhaging."

"Ok, enough, the point is, I made an… 'inhibitor', technically it's just an implant now since it doesn't inhibit anything, but basically it will counteract the issue, improve the CAEB's compatibility with my biology and help me get more powerful with less of the unwanted side effects."

"And you're sure this is safe?"

"Bruce, would I have told you about it if I wasn't sure."

"I don't mean to everyone else I mean to you. No more meetings or shit?"

"No, definitely not."

"Great. So, when do you think you can have it ready?"

"It is ready. I had Jarvis start synthesising it while I worked on the other stuff."

"You want to put it on now." Bruce realised.

"Yes, I do. I have the perfect playing field to test it on right now, which may sound reckless, but actually if anything, this thing will stabilise me."

"Run it by the team first?"

"We're leaving in 10minutes."

"You need me to help you."

"No, I don't actually I can sort it myself…"

"I think I'd prefer it if you didn't do it yourself Tony."

"Why do you think I ran it past you first?"

"Ok, I do think this is a good idea, a bit rushed, but… well give me 5 minutes ok, I'm ready to go, so I'll pop upstairs and see where the others are."

"Sure, I'll pack up the armour, upgrades are 99.2% complete, should be ready to go in… 6 minutes."

…

"Guys. You got a minute?"

Steve was in the weapons room, as were Natasha and Clint. Thor apparently was waiting on the jet already. He hardly needed to pack.

"Sure. Tony going to be on time for a change?" Steve asked Bruce with a smile.

"Yes, he's just loading the armour. He wants to do something, with the inhibitor, ideally before we leave." Bruce said tentatively.

"Woah, wait hold up." Clint exclaimed. "Surely he doesn't want to turn that thing back on? If this is because he's worried about 'our safety' on this damn mission I swear to God I'll knock him into next week…"

"No, no Clint, it's not that… well I'll tell you the short version. The one he has in was flawed as you know, hence the meetings. We couldn't replace it because turning it off wasn't an option then, but it is off now, and we can swap it out for a better version. He's made one that will actually help him control the CAEB, not supress it."

"He wants to do it now?" Steve asked a little hesitantly. "That's pretty rushed Bruce."

"Honestly I've had a good look at it and I can't see any risk. It should just be a simple swap out and Tony's right, doing this now is the best time. If anything, it will make him more stable, more in control and less likely to have any unexpected... episodes mid fight."

"If Bruce approves, then I don't see an issue." Natasha said to Steve.

"Hang on, will that mean even with the thing turned on those 'meetings' are over?" Clint asked.

"Yeah, a thing of the past." Bruce smiled.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Clint exclaimed.

"No downsides?" Steve asked.

"Not that I can see… which means, no, there's no downside to this."

"Then get that thing swapped." Steve confirmed. "We all good to go?"

"Yes." Came the general consensus.

….

To save time, Tony had elected to swap the inhibitor on the Quinjet once they were underway to save the hold up. It had hurt like a bitch, but he'd bitten his lip. The immediate difference wasn't so noticeable, but that was how he'd wanted it. He set it to come on slowly over the next 2 hours so he had time to acclimatise. It would be fully functional by the time they landed.

"Tony, you good?" Steve asked as the billionaire came back into the front of the jet.

"Yeah, Cap. Never better."

"Right, well I'll brief you in a few minutes. Since you missed the planning session."

"Tony, you're bleeding!" Clint exclaimed, and suddenly everyone was on high alert.

Tony frowned, dabbing his nose, confusion bleeding into his features when his fingers appeared clear.

"Not your nose, the back of your neck! The inhibitor…"

Tony sighed grabbed a tissue, holding it to the back of his neck. "Relax Clint that was to be expected."

"Expected?" Natasha asked, looking over Bruce's features searching for any concern from the scientist, but she found none.

"Yeah, well, the inhibitor does work by drilling a rather long needle into my secondary brain stem, so yeah, there might be blood."

"Stark that does not sound pleasant." Thor exclaimed.

"It isn't particularly, but its necessary."

"Tony…"

"Steve I'm going to stop you there. I've got a headache, I'm not complaining about this implant, so I don't want to hear anyone else doing it, capisce? Now, can you tell me the plan while I still have the will to pay attention to it?"

….

"So, satellite images have shown that there are over 300 people in the building at any one time, many of them are civilian workers, scientists who are there under duress." Steve continued, but Tony was only half listening. The back of his neck was on fire. Frigging implant.

"So, no storming the place?" Tony said playfully.

"No, we don't want a blood bath, if this goes well we'll actually be giving a lot of people their freedom." Steve said with a stern expression.

"This is a stealth operation." Natasha emphasised.

"You think you can manage stealth, Mr. Ostentatious?" Clint sneered.

"I can do stealth just fine Barton." Tony glared his way dangerously, with a playful glint in his eye.

"Really, because you have red and gold armour, not exactly discrete." Clint threw back and he had a point.

Maybe a big red and gold target to aim for wouldn't be the best advantage in the end game battle that was to come… Maybe He could just leave the new armour he had planned on building silver like he had done with Rhodey's suit before the jackass had painted it that dull grey, black and then that ridiculous iron patriot get up… Stop. He was getting side-tracked.

The enemy seemed to value stealth, those craft had been near impossible to see. The silver would do it on the iron man suit; being highly reflective would make him hard to see… but maybe he could do better. Retroreflectives were a possibility. A very good possibility. How awesome would an invisible iron man be?

"Stay on track please." Steve said sternly, snapping Tony's thought process back into the room. "We have 40 perimeter guards on randomly rotating patrols and an estimated 30 further armed men in the facility. We do not know where Coulson and his team are being held in the facility, so we need to remain undetected as long as possible."

"So, I'm guessing that means you and the spider are going to slide in quietly and do the rescue, while me and goldilocks do what exactly?"

"The spider has a name tin can." Natasha glared at him.

"You and I, Stark, will remain outside, and discretely take out the guards leaving a clear escape route."

"Please tell me we get to storm the place once you've got Coulson out?"

"Yes Tony, you will both infiltrate the facility and get the non-hostiles out safely, but only once Coulson's team have been extracted."

"Bruce and Clint on the techy stuff?"

"Yes…"

"Right well I think I got it." Tony cut him off.

"Tony, you are taking this seriously?" Steve asked, trying not to antagonise the man.

"Yes Steve, I am, I just want to get some shut eye before the loud noises start."

"How bad is this headache, Tony? Are you sure you are ok?" Bruce asked, concernedly.

"I swear to God if you ask me that one more time…"

"You're still bleeding." Natasha frowned and Tony practically growled in frustration at his body for betraying him.

"Your neck's bothering you." Bruce stated firmly.

"No shit." Tony said dejectedly.

"Painkiller?" Bruce offered.

"Yeah, why not." Tony sighed.

"Tony..." Steve began.

"Steve, the CAEB will have this healed in about 20minutes, if it hasn't I won't put myself in the field ok?"

Steve considered briefly. "Deal. Get some rest."

….

"There's a plane already down there." Natasha broke the silence on the jet as they circled their landing spot in stealth mode. "It's big, very big… and it has Retroreflectives engaged."

Bruce sat up from where he had been lazily strewn in the chair and shuffled closer. "It has to be Coulson's bus."

"There are three heat signatures." Clint confirmed.

"Ok, change of plan, set us down here and we'll investigate." Steve ordered.

The Quinjet came into land and they gathered their weapons

"Do we wake Stark?" Thor asked, pointing to the still sleeping figure in the back of the Quinjet.

Steve considered for a second. "No, I don't see why we'd need him, besides he looks like he needs it."

The engineer was very still, breathing evenly with an unusually normal pallor to his skin. He looked uncharacteristically peaceful, lying on his side, on hand over the arc reactor.

Bruce had noticed he often slept like this, the first thing he did if he tensed in his sleep was to protect the thing keeping him alive, but he looked utterly relaxed at the moment.

"Leave him." Bruce concurred.

"Clint…"

"Stay here yes, I know." He grumbled.

They trudged through the field cautiously approaching the cloaked jet. It didn't take much to jget on board, just removing a panel and connecting up a Stark phone so Jarvis could get in and hack the system. The rear hanger door hissed and started to lower, immediately there were alarmed voices from inside.

Bruce shrank back a bit. If the people on the plane were hostiles, then he didn't want the hulk making an appearance and blowing their cover before this mission had even started. Actually, he should have stayed on the Quinjet with Tony and Clint… what the hell was he even doing here.

When the hanger door lowered fully there were three guns pointe their way, but to Natasha three very familiar faces

"Put Down your weapons." A man's voice ordered.

"Relax Ward, we're here to help."

"Romanoff." May acknowledged.

"Oh my God, that's Captain America!" The younger girl said, lowering her gun. "And Thor!" She exclaimed, looking at her S.O. "You guys are the avengers!"

"And you must be Skye." Natasha said simply.

Ward rolled his eyes at his trainee's enthusiasm.

"Bruce, coast is clear."

"Why are the Avenger's here." Skye whispered indiscreetly to Ward stood next to her.

"You know it's really rude to just wander off and leave me asleep." Tony wandered in, Clint on his heels.

"Stark?" May asked a little in surprise.

"Yes, it's me, we've come to rescue you, but it seems like you're fine." He said a little in confusion, sleep still heavy in his mind.

"Good to see you Barton." Ward smiled as Clint came in to view.

"Clint you were supposed to wait in the jet." Natasha growled.

"Well I didn't hear gunfire and I wasn't just going to let this asshole wander about on his own. Invalid or not I'm still a better shot than he is."

"I heard about your injury, it's great to see you walking Hawkeye." May smiled.

"Well, I'd be doing a lot more than that, if someone wasn't such an overprotective mother hen.

Natasha cuffed him sharply across the back of the head and then wrestled the gun out of his hand. "Give me that."

"Ow!" Clint protested rubbing the back of his head.

"Go sit down." Natasha ordered. Tony chuckled which earnt him a glare from the archer.

"So, what's the situation?" Steve asked. "You've not contacted SHIELD in days."

"So, they sent the full blown Avengers to rescue us?" Ward asked suspiciously. "I didn't think we were that important."

"My idea." Tony raised his hand. He didn't know why, but he was getting an immensely bad vibe every time that Ward started talking. He'd just have to try and ignore it. "I kind of owe you gus one anyone, for rescuing me, so this will make us even."

"We were ambushed a few days ago. Coulson and Fitzsimmons got taken hostage. We've been trying to devise a plan to get them out of there, but we haven't been able to contact SHIELD. The Bus got hit with some sort of sophisticated EMP, our circuits are fired, the plane is out of action, comms are down…" May explained.

"If you have a plan we want to help." Skye said firmly.

"We don't really want too many feet on the ground, our strategy relies on stealth, we've got everything covered." Steve tried to let them down gently. He didn't know these three, didn't know their strengths he didn't want to risk losing anyone on this mission.

"We're not just going to sit here and wait." Ward hissed, and Tony shuddered visibly. Bruce looked at the engineer in confusion, mouthing 'are you alright.'

 _'_ _I'm fine Bruce.'_ He thought in his most irritated tone, knowing that Bruce heard.

"You said there's nearly 300 in the compound." Tony turned to Steve. "We hold this mission out a few hours I can have this thing airborne and fully functioning.

"A getaway vehicle for the civilians." Natasha nodded.

"Exactly." Tony nodded. "We can get them out of the firing line faster,

"Civilians?" May asked.

"Our intel shows that most of the workers in the compound are there under duress." Clint explained.

"Ok, so…" Ward started, thankfully no one was looking Tony's way as he cringed. "What's the plan."

"I'll get this thing ship shape." Tony muttered, wandering off and gaining a concerned look from Bruce and he buried himself in the control panel.

…

"How long are we going to stand here exactly?" Tony huffed.

He was stood deep in the undergrowth, Thor a few metres away awaiting Steve and Natasha's go ahead, but they hadn't even attempted to enter the compound yet. He wished they'd hurry up, crouched like this in the armour was not comfortable in the slightest.

At least the CAEB had taken care of the damned inhibitor like he'd expected it to. When he'd awoken, the new implant had taken full effect and it felt amazing. It was hard to describe the sensation, nothing had really changed but everything he felt was just stronger. He could sense Thor's pensiveness more clearly, it now felt like such a short jump between what he could unconsciously sense and reading his thoughts. But he didn't succumb to the temptation, not with his friends.

"Stark I believe that the idea of stealth is to remain silent." Thor reminded him helpfully.

"Yeah, but why haven't then gone in yet?" Tony asked, wondering what the hell Steve and Natasha we're playing at. Some of the guards were as bored as he was, one of them was thinking about shooting the guard at the other side of the clearing who had stolen his sandwich a few months ago. God these guys were psychos. Hang on, he was reading their thoughts and he'd hadn't even meant to…

"Guy's what's the hold up?" He asked over the comms, desperate for something to get going before he slipped up and read someone else's mind. But there was nothing in his helmet, no reply from his team mates and an annoying amount of static.

Something was wrong. He let the CAEB reach out while Jarvis started scanning the area. He could feel Steve, and, yes… that was Tash, why was she so goddamn hard to sense? They weren't far away, in fact they were coming up behind them and Steve seemed worried.

Tony turned around, before they were even visible.

"What is it?" He asked the second they came into view.

"How did you…" Steve started.

"You really need to ask? Why aren't you both in there?" Tony pointed to the facility though the trees.

"Bruce and Clint can't get a comms link set up. Something is wrong."

"Let me have a look." Tony sighed, putting Jarvis straight on the case. "Amateurs." He muttered.

He watched as Jarvis sent back his report silently in HUD.

"Ah." He said tensely.

"Ah?" Natasha asked.

"Slight issue…They have a pretty advanced signal blocker which makes setting up the comms nearly impossible."

"Nearly impossible?"

"Yes, the good news is I can bypass it, the bad news is if I do, the line won't be secure."

"They'll be able to hear everything we say!" Natasha hissed.

"Only if they are listening out for unsecure frequencies as a precaution." Tony offered.

"They have a signal jammer Tony, I'm pretty sure that means they are listening!"

"We can't take that risk." Steve shook his head.

"If I was back at the lab I could secure the feed, but not from here. I would need a very, very powerful computer the software…" Tony started.

"We are going to have to abort, we can't go in without comms it would be a nightmare." Natasha stated the obvious.

"I'm more worried about the fact that this signal jammer, is mine." Tony bit back and the other's turned to him sharply.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked.

"The reason I can't get past it easily, like I can every other goddamn piece of tech, is that I designed this one, so yeah, it's meant to be pretty infallible."

"You built some sort of back door, right?" Steve asked.

"Of course, I did, but as I just explained, I need a bigger computer. This is probably the thing that took out all the electronics on the bus."

"How much bigger?"

"Way bigger than anything we have out here. There is no way I can get a secure line up."

"How on earth did these men get your device Stark?" Thor asked

"I gave this to SHIELD, but it was exclusively for the Avengers program. You've got a very big hole in your security."

"Yeah, you, hacking it every 5 minutes."

"I'm serious Steve, if Murdoch has his hands on this, then he could have any other piece of tech I developed for SHIELD, this mission just got a whole lot more dangerous." Tony yelled, and the others cringed at his loudness.

"Stay right where you are!" There was a guard stood behind him, rocket launcher raised in their direction.

"Shit." Tony hissed.

"Stealth Tony. Stealth." Natasha sighed as Tony took off his helmet in annoyance at himself.

The man reached for his radio. If he put the call out, then this was over before it began. There would be a blood bath.

Tony's eyes glowed blue. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." He growled.

The guard stopped dead in his tracks, hand hovering above the radio and then suddenly relaxed. His eyes glowed to match Tony's.

"Tony?" Steve said worriedly. Tony held up his hand to silence the captain.

"You didn't see us, everything's fine. There's nobody here." Tony said calmly.

"There's nobody here." The guard repeated. He lowered his weapon and marched off the way he came, muttering into the radio "Sector 4 is clear."

As Tony's eyes returned to their normal shade he felt the other three staring at him intensely and the wash of emotions that were flooding their systems battered him relentlessly.

"Can you feel less loudly? It makes me edgy." Tony chuntered, gruffly.

"What was that?" Came Natasha's inevitable question.

"Do we have to go through this every time I try something new? That was me saving our asses."

"Ok, just maybe take it a little easier, you only just put in that new inhibitor…"

"Implant." Tony corrected. "It doesn't inhibit anything anymore, it's just an implant."

Steve sighed. "Ok Tony, but my point stands."

"None of this matters if we can't get a secure comms set up." Natasha reminded them.

"I'm going to go talk to Bruce, give me 5." Tony marched off towards where they'd hidden the Quinjet, but then stopped short when he was a little way out of sight. He had an idea.

' _Bruce, you reading me?_ ' He made the connection with Bruce easily _._

 _'_ _Tony, what's up?'_

 _'_ _Comms are a no go, they have a signal jammer, my signal jammer, so we can't get a secure line.'_

 _'_ _So, is this aborted mission?'_ Bruce asked tentatively.

 _'_ _Well it nearly was full on war a minute ago, we almost got busted. I mind controlled a guy.'_

 _"_ _Mind control?' Bruce sounded more surprised than horrified._

 _'_ _Yeah, looks like the Implant is doing a good job.'_

The implant. The CAEB.

' _Maybe we don't need comms.'_

 _'_ _We can't do the mission blind Tony…"_

 _"_ _That's not what I mean. If I can connect my mind with you, like this, then why can't I connect one person's mind to another?"_

 _"_ _Tony what are you talking about."_

 _"_ _Let me put you on hold.'_

Tony took a breath.

' _Hey Clint.'_

 _'_ _Tony what are you up too? Bruce is worried.'_

Ok, so check for Clint.

 _'_ _Please hold.'_ Tony mimicked the monotone computerised voice that made those words so much more annoying than they had to be.

 _'_ _Tony, you ass…'_

 _'_ _Steve?'_ Tony tried _._

 _'_ _Tony, where are you?'_ Tony could almost imagine the Captain looking round to find where the voice was coming from. He gave him a minute to figure it out.

 _'_ _This is… you're in my head, aren't you? Like with Clint and Bruce at the meeting?'_

 _'_ _Yep, just trying something out, don't freak ok?'_

 _'_ _I trust you Tony.'_ That came as a surprise, but a pleasant one.

 _'_ _Thanks Cap.'_

 _'_ _Thor.'_

 _'_ _So, this is what it feels like to have you talk inside my head Stark. It is interesting.'_

 _'_ _Speak for yourself. Your Asgardian brain is giving me a headache.'_

 _'_ _Stark, you are not hurting yourself to maintain this link?'_

 _'_ _I'm fine.'_

 _'_ _I assume by the Captains startled expression you have attempted this was him, but moments ago.'_

 _"_ _Yes, I'm trying something out. Just Hang on a second.'_

This was the hard one. Natasha. She was so shrouded, so difficult to connect to, but he could feel her now, at least a little. Thank God for the implant, actually what the hell was he talking about, he didn't believe in God and he made that damn implant, so he only had himself to thank. He took a breath and focused.

Let me in Natasha. He hissed to himself.

 _'_ _Tash?'_ He asked hesitantly.

 _'_ _Tony. Please get out of my head.'_

Tony sighed in relief. He'd managed it.

 _'_ _Chill, would you? I'm trying to fix our comms problem.'_

 _'_ _Tony, are you sure that's a good idea?'_

 _'_ _Its fine. I can handle it. Just stay on the line.'_

 _'_ _How the hell do I do that?'_

Tony could feel Clint and Bruce in the Quinjet. He could connect to them each individually, but he had to find a way of connecting them all together if he wanted this to work. What good was a communication network without the network? It would be a horrific and potentially deadly waste of time if the only voice everyone could hear was Tony's and he was left to relay the messages to individuals.

He could see it playing out in his head.

'Tony tell Steve to get down!'

'Steve, Thor says get down… oh sorry too late, you already got your head blown off!'

Tony had to make this connection, or the mission was a bust.

So, Bruce and Clint, what did they have in common? How could he connect their minds? Well right now they were both worried, about the same thing evidently. Him, as usual. He rolled his eyes and focused on that feeling, trying to pick out the common theme.

 _'_ _Testing, testing…'_

 _'_ _Tony!' 'Tony!'_ The two voices came at once.

 _'_ _Clint?' 'Bruce?'_ Bingo. They could hear each other.

 _'_ _Why can I hear you?' 'How did you get in my head?'_

 _'_ _Ok Multiplayer mode activated, let's see if how many we can add to this sucker.'_ Tony grinned.

 _'_ _This is your solution to the comms problem?'_ Bruce chastised. _'Testing your powers this extremely when you've only just put on the implant isn't a good idea.'_

 _'_ _Oh, save it Bruce, I'm trying to save this mission from going tits up. Now shut up the pair of you I need to concentrate.'_

 _'_ _Rude!' Clint retorted, but Tony didn't answer._

There were a few minutes of silence before they heard Tony's voice again.

 _'_ _And everybody welcome Steve to the party!'_

 _'_ _Tony what are you talking about?'_ Steve's voice came loud and clear.

 _'_ _Hey Cap.'_

 _'_ _Clint?'_

 _"_ _And Me.'_ Bruce confirmed.

 _'_ _Yes, you're all connected, but quiet please, there are still two guest players missing from this funhouse.'_

Another pause.

 _'_ _Thor comms check.'_

 _'_ _I can hear you Stark.'_

 _'_ _Everyone still there?'_ Tony asked.

 _'_ _Yes'_ Came the choir of voices.

 _'_ _Great, just Tash to go.'_

 _…_ _._

Tony had been trying to connect Romanoff for a good few minutes and was getting frustrated. He could sense her general emotional state, like the others, but it was far less clear and well, she seemed to be feeling something completely different to everyone else and it was making impossible to find a common thread.

' _Natasha, I'm having trouble connecting you to the others.'_

 _'_ _What do you want me to do about it?'_

 _'_ _Try be a bit more open.'_ Tony suggested tentatively.

 _'_ _Tony, I swear to God…'_

' _Tash please don't be awkward, give me a break, we don't have all night.'_ And my head is hurting already, was what he didn't add.

 _'_ _I still don't get what you want me to do Tony, I don't know how to open my mind, or whatever shit you are talking about. I'm not doing anything like that!'_

Tony grumbled, clutching his temples, but kept it to himself. _'Ok, maybe try holding onto Steve. Skin to skin.'_

" _What?'_

 _'_ _Just do it please Natasha.'_

Natasha sighed and rubbed her own temples. This was a whole new level of weird.

"Are you ok, Tash, has Tony looped you in yet?" Steve asked, still stood with her and Thor.

"No, apparently I'm being difficult." She scoffed.

"Can I do anything?" He asked, typical Steve, always trying to fix things.

"Apparently I have to touch you."

"Touch me?" Steve said somewhat taken aback.

Natasha smirked. "Relax Cap and hold my hand."

Steve offered out his hand into Natasha's small outstretched one and they waited.

' _Got you!'_ Tony said triumphantly when he finally managed to connect Natasha with the group. _'Ok everyone, we're back on track, let's get this over with.'_

 _'_ _Right everyone back in position.'_ Steve ordered. _'Rescue mission is go.'_

 _'_ _Rescue mission is go, seriously?_ ' Clint mocked.

 _'_ _Can we keep this channel to necessary communications please.'_ Tony berated. It was already weird enough having them all chatter inside his head, not to mention the dull throbbing in his temples every time one of them spoke.

But, the mission was back on track. Time to rescue Coulson.

….

Steve and Natasha staled quietly through the harsh white corridors of the compound, keeping away from CCTV and occasionally ducking out of sight of a passer-by.

 _'_ _Is the any way we can speed this up?'_ Steve asked. _'Can you get a read on Coulson or Fitzsimmons, Tony?'_

 _'_ _I have to do everything round here. I'm not a damn computer.'_

 _'_ _Can you, or can't you?'_ Bruce asked.

Tony was silent for a moment.

 _'_ _Two lefts and a right, 3_ _rd_ _and 4_ _th_ _doors on the left.'_

 _'_ _Thank you, Tony.'_ Steve said, avoiding the sarcasm.

Natasha and Steve flew through the corridors, gracefully, there was no one in sight. They approached the first door and Steve signalled to Natasha that they would go on three. Steve raised his shield and Natasha her gun as Steve counted down on his fingers.

3,2,1…

Steve rammed the door and burst into the room, Natasha hot on her heels. There were 4 figures in the room. 3 armed, one captive.

"Well, Well, Well." A thickly accented voice said in amusement. Steve guessed at Eastern European, he didn't recognise the face. A glance at Natasha told him she didn't either. "The Avengers, how exciting. You must be their favourite pet Agent Coulson."

Coulson was chained in the corner of the room, face bloody and beaten. The man had a gun pressed into his chest, the other 2 guns in the room were pointed at them.

"Now put down your weapons, Captain, Ms. Romanoff and your little pet doesn't get hurt."

Natasha nodded to Steve, who started to lower his shield as she lowered her gun. Then she moved like lightening. Her foot slammed into an electrical box and the room went dark. There were grunts as she felled one of the guards, she could sense Steve moving through the blackness take out the second.

Then a gunshot rang out. There was a gasp of pain and the stench of blood seeped into the air.

The emergency power kicked in and the lights in the room came back on. Steve had felled the European man already, the three guards were nothing more than crumpled piles on the floor. The captain was hovered over the Coulson's form, blood was seeping into his white shirt and spreading rapidly.

Steve was already applying pressure to the wound in Coulson's chest, but it was bad. Somehow the man was still conscious, grunting from the pain.

"Crap." Natasha hissed. Moving forward towards them. She took over from Steve putting pressure on the wound. "Clear the next room, quickly, get Fitz and Simmons." Someone had to have heard that gunshot.

Coulson groaned, pain spread in his features as Natasha pressed harder. "Nice to see you Romanoff." He choked out.

"Bet you wished you stayed dead." She smiled, but she didn't let him reply. "Don't talk, stay awake." She ordered, Coulson just nodded weakly.

Seconds later Steve was back in the room with two more people. "Coulson!" Fitz cried out, rushing to the agent's side.

"I'll be fine Fitz, let's just get out of here." Coulson croaked, spluttering a little. He glanced at Gemma and saw the horror in her eyes. She knew. The likelihood of him getting out of this one was slim.

"Can you walk?" Steve asked, hauling Coulson to his feet. He would carry the man if he had too, but ideally he would need one arm free to fight.

"I'll try." Coulson nodded, leaning most of his weight on the Captain.

"Right, Natasha, you go ahead, you two…" He gestured to the young scientists. "Stay close to me and Coulson keep pressure on your wound." Coulson pressed his hand against his chest and grimaced as they started moving.

They needed to get out of here fast.

As they rounded the corner they were immediately faced by a guard. Natasha ran forward, taking him down swiftly and quietly. Steve threw his shield as one approached from behind. They kept moving Coulson was shivering in Steve's grasp, but someone he was taking some of his weight.

There was another thud and a few grunts round the corner and as they truned it they could already see three guards on the floor courtesy of Natasha. She waited for them to catch up and then started moving again.

She saw him too late.

A scientist walked out of one of the rooms at the far end of the corridor and stared at the felled guars in panic. He ran forward, hand outstretched, heading for the alarm.

Natasha charged at him, but she wasn't going to make it. If the alarm was raised every guard in the place would come down on them. They had three non-combatants, one of which was gravely injured. They didn't have time for a fight.

 _'_ _Tony he's going for the alarm!'_ Steve yelled through their link.

Tony snapped into action. He connected with Steve's mind and saw what was unfolding. The scientist at the end of the corridor was just centimetres away from pushing that button. He felt the man's fear and connected with it.

"Go to sleep!" He urged and saw the guy crumple through Steve's eyes.

 _'_ _What did you do to him?_ ' Tony could hear the frown in Natasha's voice.

 _'_ _Just knocked him out, have a little faith._ ' Tony sighed in relief at the close call and then suddenly there was an explosion.

The alarm started blaring, red lights and spotlights bleeding into the night air.

 _'_ _You have to be kidding me!'_ Tony yelped.

 _'_ _Sorry comrades I have been discovered.'_

'Who's the God of stealth now?' He thought to himself irately.

 _'_ _Get them out of there quick as you can Steve._ ' Tony warned. _'Things are about to get ugly.'_

 _'_ _Yeah thanks Tony never would have guessed.'_

As if on cue, gun fire started erupting around them. Tony tried to focus on Steve, Natasha and Coulson, how far were they from the exit? They were moving fast, maybe 200 metres from escaping, but there was something wrong, Steve was scared, he could even feel Natasha's anxiety. What the hell had happened?

Suddenly his HUD flashed up red. There was an explosion of dirt that hit him square in the face. His neck whipped painfully in the suit as he was thrown from his feet, crashing backwards into a tree. What the hell was that?

"Shit!" He yelped. Thankfully he wasn't broadcasting across their mutual link, because he knew what Cap's oh so helpful response would do for his mood right now. An injury report flashed up on his screen, multiple contusions and a fractures shoulder blade. Just what he needed. He felt the CAEB numbing the pain, starting on the damage.

He grumbled to himself, getting to his feet with a growl. He was facing a tank which had shot the large shell at him. Son of a bitch would pay for that.

Iron man launched into action, blasters leaving the tank in a crumpled pile of metal and flames as he headed towards the next target.

…

Steve groaned to himself as a dozen guards started charging down the corridor towards them. They didn't have time to fight this lot.

"Natasha take him." She did as he asked, carefully shifting Coulson's weight onto her and Steve raised his shield and ran at the guards, using it as a battering ram he slammed the guards at full charge. They bounced off, scattering to the floor unconscious.

Natasha raised her eyebrow, impressed. Well that was certainly effective.

"Come on!" She ordered the startled scientists, and they started to run behind the charging captain, half- dragging Coulson with her.

…

 _'_ _We're out!'_ Natasha voice came over loud and clear as the front door of the compound was rammed off its hinges by the charging Steve.

Tony sighed in relief. Stage 2, he started heading for the door to start evacuation when he felt something was wrong.

 _'_ _Bruce, we need med evac, Coulson's hit.'_ Steve's mind was clouded with panic now, Tony could feel it leaking into the surroundings.

"Shit!" Tony yelled. This couldn't be happening. _'How bad?'_

 _'_ _It's not good, Tony. I'm sorry.'_ Steve's voice said it all. He could feel Gemma's despair. She had medical training, she thought he was going to die. They were going to lose him. They were going to lose Coulson again, this time for real.

He couldn't let that happen. He just couldn't. He could heal himself… the CAEB would always heal him without him even asking it to, so why couldn't heal someone else? He couldn't think of a reason why not.

He was on a roll today he had to try it.

 _'_ _Bring him to me.'_

 _'_ _Tony, what?'_

 _'_ _Steve' it's worth a shot, get Fitzsimmons to the jet and bring Coulson to me!'_

 _'_ _You think you could heal him?'_ Steve yelled over a nearby explosion, not realising that he hardly had to do so when they were talking inside each other's heads. That explosion was Tony firing his repulsor blast at an armoured truck that was firing annoying machine gun rounds at him and denting his armour.

 _'_ _I think I'm pissed and I'd like to see something stop me doing anything right now. So, bring, him, here!'_

Steve didn't have to answer, Tony could feel him moving towards him fast, carrying Coulson in his arms. Natasha was running the opposite direction with a battered and flustered Fitzsimmons, heading for the jet and safety.

"Nice to see you on your feet Stark." Coulson grunted and then coughed, violently as Steve lowered him to the ground. Blood spewed from the corner of his mouth and Tony's heart fluttered dangerously in worry.

"Don't try and talk Phil." He urged, voice not much above a whisper.

"I thought my first name was agent." Coulson smiled a little, pain etched in his features.

"Shut up I mean it." Tony grunted. And started stripping his armour on his arms, pulling off his helmet. "Cover me Capsicle." He called over to Steve, who was still standing over them both.

Tony knew he was vulnerable like this. Weapons down, head a perfect target for the machine gun fire he could hear chattering through the tree's around them, but he needed to feel a connection of some sort, skin on skin. This was a reach and he knew it, but he had to try, Coulson was fading fast.

"Stark?" Steve asked uncertainly.

"Just cover me." Tony demanded.

Tony rolled up Coulson's shirt and pressed his hands firmly onto the wound, to stem the bleeding. Coulson grunted in barely hidden pain and Tony grimaced in sympathy.

"Hold on Phil." He whispered.

He could feel the blood pulsing underneath him, leaking from the damaged vessels inside his friend. He could sense the damage, now all he had to do was fix it. He tried to calm himself, he realised his hands were shaking, fear consuming him at the thought of losing Coulson. He couldn't have a panic attack now, come on!

"Tony? What's happening?" Steve asked, throwing his shield and knocking down two guards who were heading there way. If Tony couldn't heal him fast, they needed to get him to Med evac. They didn't have time to waste on Tony trying out his powers.

"Please don't talk to me!" Tony huffed in a few deep breaths and regained his focus, blocking out the noise of the battle around him and homing in on the wound. Repair the blood vessels, stop the bleeding, repair the tissue.

It started. It was working, he could feel it happening beneath his hands, with the tell-tale burning behind his eyes.

Then Coulson let out a blood curdling scream.

"Tony!" Steve yelped, and the billionaire stopped immediately. Of course, he was an idiot! Putting tissue back together would hurt like hell.

"Jesus, God. Sorry, I'm sorry, just give me a minute…" Tony panted, his voice unsteady. He was starting to feel a bit shaky now and cold. He was tired.

"I can take it." Coulson gasped out. "If it saves me I can take it."

"You don't need to C- Coulson, I- I can fix it." Tony stuttered.

"Tony?" Coulson choked in concern. But Tony wasn't listening, if he could turn off the pain receptors Coulson wouldn't feel a thing.

"Ok take two." Tony tried again, and this time Coulson didn't so much as grimace. He felt the tissues knitting together until all that was left was an angry red mark on Coulson's skin.

"Thank you." Coulson breathed, running his hand over the nearly healed skin.

"We good?" Steve asked, handing Tony back his helmet.

"All good." Tony grunted, sitting up on his knees. He offered his hand to Coulson, who gripped his forearm instead. The pair quickly got to their feet.

"Tony that was amazing, thank you."

"No biggie, Coulson." Tony smiled, but then his face quickly fell. The colour drained from his face and his legs suddenly buckled.

"Stark!" Coulson grabbed hold of Tony, quickly as the man suddenly became unable to take his own weight. Tony was breathing heavily and quivering in Coulson's hands. "Crap, talk to me?" Was he even conscious? The agent felt like he was taking the armoured engineers full weight and was struggling under it.

"-m fine." Tony slurred, trying and failing to get back to his feet and Coulson sighed in relief.

"Ok, you are done." Steve said firmly, taking Tony's weight off the straining SHIELD agent.

"It's fine, j-just give me a minute." Tony grunted, unconvincingly.

"No, Tony that's enough. Me and Widow will get the civilians out then Thor has got the rest. The pair of you get back to the jet."

"Not needed huh. You benching me?" Tony coughed and wiped the blood from under his nose.

"Yes, Tony I'm benching you, before you end up in another coma. Now go back to the jet."

"Alright Mom."

' _Bruce, Tony's coming to you with Coulson. Check him over do not let get him come back out here.'_

 _'_ _What's wrong, what's happened.'_

 _'_ _Just overdone it again saving Coulson.'_

 _'_ _Coulson's ok?'_ Clint's concerned voice broke through.

 _'_ _Yes, everyone's fine, Tony there yet?'_

 _'_ _We got him.'_ Bruce confirmed.

…

Tony stumbled into the Quinjet. He and the nearly healed, but exhausted Coulson were holding each other up, but as soon as they walked up the ramp they both just gave in. The pair collapsed in a ragged heap on the floor.

"Coulson, Mr. Stark!" Gemma's startled voice rang out in the jet, but Bruce was already gathering Coulson to his feet.

"I'm Good." Coulson assured Bruce as he was handed off to the frantic Gemma and Fitz, who helped him down into a chair.

Clint made a move to get up, but Bruce spotted him. "Nope Clint, you're not helping anyone you stay there and keep an eye on the battle, someone needs to have their backs."

He heard Clint grumble, but do as he was asked, turning his head back to the monitors. _'Steve on your left!'_ He conveyed quickly to the captain, who hadn't seen a guard approaching with a rocket launcher. The captain dive out of the way just in time and Thor felled the assailant with a little more prejudice than was required.

"Tony, you got to help me with this armour or I can't get you up." Bruce frowned, this must be a new suit because the goddamn release wasn't in the usual place.

"It's fine I'll stay here." Tony grunted in a half-conscious slur, face pressed into the floor.

"Tony come on, work with me." Bruce pleaded, but the billionaire seemed to be losing lucidity.

Tony sighed. "There's no armour release anymore." Tony rolled onto his back and the suit opened from the front, making it easy for the engineer to exit.

"Here." Fitz was standing next to Bruce, holding on to Tony's arm. Between the pair of them they strained in dragging Tony onto the bench, leaving the open armour on the hanger ramp.

"Tony. Can you hear me?" Bruce asked. The billionaires nose was bleeding again, a far too familiar site. Bruce pulled Tony up a little, so he could give a testing tap the implant and discovered it was burning hot. "Gemma, get me some ice please." Bruce asked and soon he was pressing it to the back of Tony's neck, keeping him hold of his head and not letting him lay down.

"Can I go to sleep now." Tony grumbled weakly.

"No, you can't, you're going to stay awake." Bruce told him. He didn't want Tony clocking out, not till he knew he was ok.

"Bruce." Tony whined.

"No, suck it up." Bruce clenched his jaw.

"Fine." Tony sighed, defeatedly.

 _'_ _Building is clear of civilians'_ Natasha informed.

 _'_ _Great, Thor, level the place.'_

 _'_ _With pleasure Captain.'_

"You're keeping up the comms link?" Bruce asked Tony in confusion.

"Doesn't take that much strength." Tony breathed. "And we'd been kind of screwed if I didn't."

"Here." Bruce pulled Tony up into a half sitting position and pressed something against his lips. "Drink."

Tony obeyed resting his head against the side of the Quinjet tiredly. "That Red bull?" He asked with a smirk, closing his eyes casually.

"Eyes open." Tony obeyed with a huff. "And yes. Usually I wouldn't encourage drinking radioactive waste, but under the circumstances you could use a boost."

"Well I think it's working." Tony shuffled, taking the can off Bruce and supporting himself.

"Feel better?" Bruce said a little surprised.

"A bit." Tony nodded.

"Right." Bruce turned his attention back to the other three. "Coulson?"

"Fine just sore." Coulson's face was still a mess and it was highly likely he had at the very least some broken ribs.

"Well, you're getting a full check-up and You two are getting those cuts cleaned." He told the battered Fitzsimons.

….

Tony felt his strength returning slowly. Sugar and caffeine, miracle cure all. He rummaged in one of the draws and dug out an energy bar which he nibbled on gratefully.

Bruce was now tending to Fitz and Gemma, Coulson had finally laid down, letting his eyes close and Clint was keeping an eye on the surveillance footage, chuckling as Thor destroyed the compound effortlessly.

 _'_ _The rest of Coulson's team is inbound to extract the civilians as planned.'_ Clint notified Steve and Natasha. _'They are Landing to the west of the clearing.'_

 _'_ _Thanks Barton.'_

 _…_ _.._

Steve and Natasha herded the survivors towards the waiting jet as the sky rumbled with Thunder. Thor was having fun and Steve didn't begrudge him that, but he wished the Asgardian would work a little quicker. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he had a bad feeling.

"You get them loaded, I'll watch the perimeter." Steve instructed, and Natasha nodded.

Where was Murdoch? They hadn't seen him yet. Surely after all of this he wouldn't be dumb enough to stay in the compound while Thor raised it to the ground. Something was off.

….

Tony knew he shouldn't, but he felt ok now and well, he wanted to keep track of what was going on outside. He flicked from mind, to mind to get a view of what was happening outside. The civilians were being loaded onto a jet, Thor just had a few guards and armoured vehicles to take out and then they were clear.

But Steve was worried, pensive… He had a bad feeling and it caused Tony's frown to deepen.

 _'_ _Steve, what's wrong?'_

 _'_ _Tony, you should be resting.'_

 _'_ _Steve, what's wrong?'_ Tony insisted.

 _'_ _It's Murdoch.'_ Steve said after a pause. _'Where is he? He's supposed to be running this show.'_

 _'_ _Probably did a runner.'_ Clint offered.

Steve shook his head. _'Something doesn't smell right.'_

 _'_ _You sure it's not you after all that running about.'_

 _'_ _Clint cut it out._ ' Natasha chastised.

 _'_ _I'll find him.'_ Tony said, starting to search the nearby area for anywhere someone might be hiding.

 _'_ _Tony, no you've had enough for today.'_ Bruce was glaring at him from the other side of the jet.

 _'_ _I'm probably just being paranoid Stark.'_

Steve was many things, paranoid wasn't one of them. Tony ignored their warnings and carried on looking.

Then something hit him. A terrible feeling that made him physically shudder. All the hairs on his body stood on end, and adrenaline started coursing through him. What was happening? Something was wrong…

Suddenly he was seeing into the crowd of people they'd rescued from the building, they were moving in slow motion, their backs turned to him. He was aware of Bruce shouting at him in the background, but all his attention was drawing him to one person in the crowd, wearing a white coat like so many of the others. It was a man, walking hunched. He needed to see his face.

The view changed. It was Murdoch. Murdoch was posing as a civilian, but something told him it was more than that. The white coat was too big for his frame, yet it was filled, bulky. Murdoch's hand reached into his coat as he stopped, walking against the flow of people, towards Steve.

Tony's heart rate was rapidly rising in his chest.

 _'_ _Steve!'_ He barked out a warning.

 _'_ _Tony what is it?'_

But Tony wasn't sure… Then he saw of flash of wires underneath the coat.

 _'_ _Bomb!'_

…..

Steve spun around hearing Tony's warning. He spotted Murdoch almost instantly, he was wearing a sneering grin, his fingers curled around a detonator.

Steve's eyes widened. He was too far away, there was nothing he could do.

He could only watch in horror as Murdoch's thumb pressed down on the button.

 _'_ _Tash get down!'_ He thought as he raised his shield and prepared for the blast.

He heard the explosion, ring out through the forest, people screamed in horror as a bright orange light coloured the air around them.

But the blast never came.

There was a flash of clue light and a gasp of surprise and fear from the civilians. Steve lowered his Shield to see what the hell was going on.

And he saw Tony.

The spot where Murdoch had been standing, where the explosion was raging, was enveloped in a bright blue hemisphere. Tony was stood next to the blast, both hands raised, straining to contain it behind the shield of light. But the blast was getting the better of him. The shield was expanding outwards, pushed by the force of the blast. Tony skidded backwards, heels digging into the earth which gave way behind him. He yelled out in effort and managed to regain his hold.

 _'_ _Get everyone back now!'_

"Move, move, move! Come on!" Steve ran forward, pushing the stunned people away shaking them into a run, they scattered into the forest, but they weren't moving quickly enough.

Tony knew if he let the blast go he would take everything out in a 100-meter radius, but he couldn't hold it much longer. It wasn't enough, he had to stop the blast. The people weren't moving fast enough and the Quinjet was right in the line of fire. They wouldn't get clear in time.

Pain seared through his skull as he yelled out. He pushed against the blast with everything he had. The shield started to win out, condensing the explosion and forming a sphere around it which he forced to grow smaller and smaller.

Natasha and Steve watched in awe, shell shocked as they kept driving the crowd to scatter. Their attention snapped back to the bright light as Tony roared again. His voice straining under the effort. He gave one last push, eyes glowing brighter than they'd ever seen and the shield collapsed in on itself.

There was a blast of hot air that knocked everyone to the ground with a thump.

Tony groaned as he landed heavily on his coccyx.

"Fuck." He whined. That had hurt, that had hurt a lot. He could feel the blood streaming down his face, his whole body trembled with exhaustion and the back of his neck burned hot. But everyone was alive. Well, apart from that asshole Murdoch.

He felt his head being picked up out of the dirt. Delicate fingers ran anxiously through his hair and he hummed a little as it soothed the burning in his skull.

"Tony, you ok?" Natasha's voice broke through.

Tony could only offer a grunt to confirm as he tried and failed to lift his head, letting the weight fall back into Natasha's hands.

"Tony!" Steve's blurry face appeared above him, gripping him tightly on the shoulder. "Hey, you with me?"

Shit. A bunch of people had just seen that happen, seen him use his powers. How in the hell were they going to explain that?

Tony's vision was growing dark round the edges. He had barely any strength left, but he knew what he had to do. He reached out to the minds of the shocked people who were all getting to their feet, staring in his direction.

"Forget what you saw." He whispered as all their eyes glowed blue.

"Tony what…" Steve started, before looking around, face dawning in realisation. "Tony no, we'll sort that out later." Steve begged in horror.

"There was no explosion. The Avengers saved you." He breathed.

"Tony cut it out!" Natasha yelled.

And that was the last thing he remembered before it went dark.

….

"You're a friggin idiot."

Tony groaned as the unwanted consciousness forced its way into his being. Clint. That was Clint's voice. He blinked his eyes a few times but decided that the light was too bright, and he preferred the darkness.

"Not to mention a hypocrite."

"How'd you figure." He groaned out, weakly.

"You, agreeing with Natasha to bench me because it's too soon to be in the field and then you go pull a stunt like that."

"Well I'm sorry that I didn't let everyone die."

"Yeah ok hero man, just a little warning next time." Natasha's voice purred from above him. She ran her fingers through his hair gently and stood up to move into his line of sight.

"How long was I out?"

"5 hours." Clint said, looking at his watch.

"Only 5 hours?" He frowned in surprise.

"Yeah. Bruce pumped your IV full of glucose solution. Turns out the CAEB has a sweet tooth." Natasha explained.

"Go figure." Tony smiled. "More Candy for me!"

Clint rolled his eyes.

"Oh, you're awake." Steve said, a little surprised.

"Please save the lecture Cap I have a headache."

"You are joking right? Tony you did great. You saved our asses and all those people, in fact, you are the only reason that this mission wasn't a complete and unmitigated disaster."

"Huh. Well that makes a change." Tony chuckled. "Where the hell are we?"

"On Coulson's bus, headed to New York." Clint informed him.

"Ward, Skye and May have taken the survivors to the triskelion to be debriefed. Coulson, Fitz and Simmons remain on board as per your request." Natasha elaborated.

"Sounds good. I'll go back to sleep then."

"Bruce told me to get you to eat something first." Clint dumped a pile of protein bars on Tony's chest and the engineer grunted.

"Fine." Tony huffed, sitting up gingerly. Natasha's arms went straight to his back to support him as his moved. He didn't swat them away like his instincts told him too. Everything ached, and every little movement was painful. He was grateful of the support, in fact, he realised Natasha was doing most of the work.

"What hurts?" Steve asked.

"What doesn't?" Tony shrugged. "But, I'll heal." He said, fiddling with a wrapper. His fingers felt a little numb and after a few seconds Steve took the bar off him and handed back open. Tony mumbled his thanks before another set of footsteps told them someone else had entered the room.

"Well Stark. That was quite a show." Coulson grinned at seeing the engineer awake. Tony smiled at seeing Coulson looking better, a white strip across his nose and a couple of stitches across his eyebrow, but very much alive.

"How's the chest?" Tony shivered now that his chest and shoulders were suddenly no longer covered by the blanket in his sitting position. He'd barely had time to think about it before the blanket was pulled up higher for him by Natasha. Looks like the mother hen-ing had been turned onto him now.

"That was quite the repair you did. Barely going to leave a scar." Coulson smiled.

"Yeah, well couldn't have you dying twice."

"About that." Steve said. "No one's actually told me how on earth you are still alive."

"Well Roger's when I find out I'll let you know."

"Cryptic." Clint frowned.

"Yes, well we all know how Fury loves his secrets."

"I could do a little digging around in his head if you wanted." Tony offered, only half-jokingly.

"I think you have enough on your plate at the moment Stark."

"How long till we land." Steve asked.

"40minutes."

"These taste like shit." Tony huffed, throwing the half-eaten protein bar on the floor. "I just saved like, 300 people, I want ice cream."

"Get the man some ice cream." Steve smirked.

"What flavour?" Coulson asked.

"One of each, I'm fucking starving."

Coulson smiled, the worry draining out of his face as he turned to go see what they had in the freezer. Skye was an ice cream fan, so he was certain there would be something for tony.

"And I want sprinkles!"

….

 **I really hope you enjoyed that guys. It was a pleasure to write. Some big power developments, a rescue mission, Tony whump and Agents of SHIELD again. Happy birthday CAEB. It may be a little longer till the next update… I have a busy week at my internship ahead. Also, I have a supernatural fic that needs keeping on top of, or my followers will be out for blood.**


	32. Chapter 32- Meltdown

**Major, Major, Major angst coming in the next couple of chapters.**

 **I did my usual, wrote a 25k chapter and realised if I ever wanted to get it proof read I'd have to split it, so the next 2 chapters are well underway.**

 **This one is maybe a bit of a boring and dialogue heavy chapter so apologies in advance, but we are getting some hardcore action very soon next time round I promise.**

Previously

After trying to make Fury's life hell in the meeting Tony discovers a little more about his powers. He is able to communicate telepathically with the Bruce and _then renders Clint in fits of laughter having sent him inappropriate images of Fury._

 _Having projected his memories onto Fury to bring him up to speed with what they face, he does the same to the Avengers minus Bruce, and then skips out on planning for the rescue of Coulson and his team._

 _Tony has changed the inhibitor to support the CAEB rather than supress it, which should help him gain better control of his powers and suffer less fatigue._

 _The rescue mission relies on a stealthy infiltration of the compound run by the mercenary, Murdoch. Immediately they find they are unable to set up a secure comms link, and Tony manages to use his telepathic abilities to link their minds in a communication channel and also convinces a guard that he hadn't seen them, so the mission can go ahead._

 _Steve and Natasha extract Coulson and Fitzsimons, but Coulson gets shot in the process. Tony uses the CAEB to knock a scientist about to raise the alarm, but Thor then gets discovered and they have to fight their way out of the compound._

 _Tony on a whim tried to heal the gravely injured Coulson. The first attempt leaves the agent screaming before he blocks the brain's pain centre and completes the job. With Tony at the point of collapse, Steve orders him back to the jet while the other's complete the mission._

 _Refuelled on sugar Tony keeps up the comms link while the rest of Coulson's team help the Steve and Natasha extract the civilians. Then he gets a terrible feeling that something is wrong and sees Murdoch in the crowd with the civilians with a bomb vest hidden under his coat._

 _Tony teleports and contains the blast managing to implode it into nothing, making all the civilians forget what they saw before he passes out for 5 hours._

Chapter 32- Meltdown

 _Electricity crackled in the air. He could almost taste it. His heart beat heavy in his chest. He could hear his breathes, fast and noisy. The air tickled his chest as it left his nose in short hard blasts. He was trying to keep them controlled, but he could feel the burning in his diaphragm; The led weight in his stomach. And the searing in his throat as his eyes locked onto the pile of armor he'd left behind. The thin fabric of his under-armor made him feel exposed. The cold leached into the sweat soaked fabric._

 _Filled with purpose he ignored the shiver that ran through him, disregarded the hairs that stood on end. His muscles howled with adrenaline that coursed through them as he strode forward. Rubble crunched beneath his feet. His breathing quickened. He knew where this would end. But he knew what he had to do._

 _He looked up for the last time, glancing at the flames that had been flickering in his peripheral. He searched for a familiar face, but there was none to be found. All there was, was ash. Dancing flames. The taste of smoke. Shattered concrete and twisted metal. Blood._

 _The sounds were muffled. Explosions in near distance, cries for help, thousands of screaming voices. The terror of a city prickled across his skin, diluted by his own._

 _Focus._

 _Then there was a face._

He'd seen this bit before, a thousand times, or that's what it felt like anyway. But now he knew who that face belonged to. It was one of the 5. Those masked creatures from the cave. He was clad in pale blue, Kairon, but he was no longer wearing his mask and it made it evident why they kept their faces hidden.

To even say they had faces was generous. There were wide at the forehead, hairless, narrowing down to the chin sharply. What little flesh they had was charred black and peeled away, revealing just discolored bones and string like ligaments. There were signs that perhaps this flesh had once been scales, there was certainly something reptilian in the eyes that stared at him, yellow orbs, with narrow slits for pupils.

Tony was a little surprised that he didn't wake up. He hadn't seen further than this before.

"You are the one who spied on us." Kairon spoke, this time not in his own Tongue, but in English. The words sounded wrong. For the first time Tony could see that 4 of the other's stood behind him.

Tony couldn't think of a single word to respond with. He felt empty, he didn't know why, it was like a piece of him had been torn away. He felt desperate, alone. He'd failed. And he was furious.

"You should have left you armor on if you were to face us Human." Kairon growled. "It would have not saved you, but perhaps you would have survived more than a second."

Ton didn't respond. He just stood firm. There was the background feeling of being drained, like he was holding up something big. He felt a thick drop of blood slide down his face. Everything was burning and yet he was still here to fight?

"Before you join your friends in death, tell me… How did a human gain the means to spy on us half way across the universe?

"I'm not human." Tony said simply, the words left his mouth, but he never remembered thinking them. That's because he hadn't, not yet. This wasn't him. He was trapped in his future body, a spectator in what was to come.

Join his friends… they were dead. They were going to die. He searched for his feelings, he was numb, empty. God, it was true. They weren't going to win this. He was going to fail.

"You're not Asgardian." Kairon stated, intrigued.

"No, I'm not."

"Then what are you?" The green one asked in amusement.

"The only thing you fear."

There was laughter, or what he assumed must be those creatures' equivalent. Tony smirked. They'd thought they'd won. Maybe they had, maybe he'd still fail.

The earth started to shake, Kairon's three Lackeys went flying backwards, slamming into an empty building which started to crumble.

Tony's eyes glowed blue. He couldn't see it, but he knew.

"This isn't possible!" Kairon yelled.

"Oh Honey." Tony tutted, something slid down over his face. "I'm afraid it's very possible."

As he ran forwards to attack he felt a feeling he'd felt once before. The same feeling that had started him on this horrific path.

He wasn't fighting to survive this. He didn't want to. This was his last fight, so he'd better make it count.

…

Tony sat up with nothing more than a sharp intake of breath. He was in the common room on the sofa, but he knew before he opened his eyes that Steve was in the kitchen. He wasn't alone, which meant he had to hold it together.

The nightmares were back. Or should he say the visions? Great.

"You alright Tony." Steve asked, but there was no concern in his voice.

"Hey Steve." Tony grunted, stretching out the crick in his neck. "Must have dropped off."

"You're working too hard." Steve said knowingly.

"I know."

"You know?" Steve asked incredulously.

"Jesus Steve, I tell you what you want to hear and you're still not happy."

Steve chuckled. "Coffee?"

"No, I'll go sleep in a proper bed."

"Who are you and what have done with Tony Stark?"

"Get lost Steve." Tony smirked.

He made his way into the lift and took it up one floor, walking into the penthouse and heading straight for his room. Closing the door behind him, he leant against the solidness and let himself slip down to the floor.

Why was he seeing this? Why was he being told his friends were going to die? What was this, motivation to change their fate? Was that even possible, or were they set on an inevitable path that couldn't be changed whatever he did?

He didn't know how long he stayed there before the fluttering in his chest started to subside. He cursed himself for being so weak. He pulled himself to his feet and headed back to the lab, avoiding the other in the tower. How could he tell them they were all going to die and it was his fault?

He would deal with this the way he knew best. He worked, and he hid.

…

Tony!" Rhodey marched down the stairs and into the lab, on a mission. His ears were instantly battered by the cacophony of heavy metal blaring in the room.

"Not yet." Tony growled from underneath the alien craft. There was a loud clanging and then Tony swore. He slid out from underneath the silver object shaking his throbbing hand. And least he hadn't dropped the spanner on his face this time, his nose was still aching from that.

"Don't you make me get Pepper down here!"

Tony knew that was an empty threat, for a change he actually knew that Pepper's schedule put her on the other side of the city today, or was that yesterday? What day was it again?

"I'm busy Rhodey!" He huffed. He was so close now; these craft were toast when they came back and he wasn't even tired yet. He'd take a break in a few hours. Or maybe he could go another day before he took his 4 hours… All he knew was that he was making progress and he couldn't stop now.

"You've been 'busy' for the last 30 hours. We have rules about the lab work now, you have to follow them."

"I seem to remember not getting a say in these rules and for the record I think they're stupid."

When Coulson and Fitzsimmons had arrived, Steve had smelt a potential disaster. With this many scientists in the tower, it was only a matter of time before someone overdid it. Yes, they were on a deadline, but burning out would not help anyone. Besides, they all knew what happened with the CAEB when Tony got too drained, so precautions needed to be taken.

The Avengers seemed to have made a pact to maintain strict watch on the four scientists who had a habit of working too hard, implementing a maximum work time of 14 hours.

14hours. 14hours! Just because the others were lightweights shouldn't mean they had to restrict him. This was ruining his schedule. They were demanding 6 hours sleep a day. 6 hours! It was ridiculous.

"Jarvis turn off the music." Rhodey demanded.

The music stopped and Tony snapped round.

"Don't you ever turn off my music." Tony said utterly calmly, but there was something dangerous in his voice that made Rhodes recoil a little. "Jarvis."

ACDC flared back into life.

"Turn it off!" Rhodey demanded.

"Permanent Override!" Tony commanded irately.

"Tony!" Rhodey growled and covered his ears as he readjusted to the noise. He looked around, but Tony had already disappeared. He was at his workbench at the other end of the room taping something to a fist sized metal disc.

"Fine whatever." Rhodey grumbled. He wasn't going to get Tony out, he needed back up.

Tony pressed a few buttons on the disc until a ring around the outside lit up green. He made sure he was as far away as possible from the craft in the room and then held the disc out in his arm. He let go and the disc went flying, homing in and attaching itself to the craft with a thunk.

"Strike!" Tony yelled triumphantly.

"Ok, well done, you made a magnet, come upstairs now."

"It's not a magnet, Rhodey. The craft aren't magnetic. They're made of an alloy of several alien metals... which took me hours to distinguish by the way. Three of the elements aren't stable under earth's atmosphere, so they decompose, releasing small amounts of a very unique radiation signature that this disc homes onto and voila!"

Tony was speaking very quickly and Rhodey knew that look in his eye. Sleep deprivation, too much caffeine, but not severe enough for Tony to have noticed it yet.

"It has an effective range of 70 meters theoretically, I need to test that in a bigger space to be certain and will detonate automatically on impact with enough force to turn the craft to dust, well, once I set up the automatic detonation, currently its manually operated..."

"You mean that thing's radioactive?" Rhodey cut in, pointing at the Craft.

"Slightly." Tony smiled. "Nothing to worry about."

"Right I'm out of here." If Tony was going to ignore him there was nothing he could do. He had passed out of his phase and into his stubborn phase. They would now have to wait until he realised how tired he was and came of his own accord.

Rhodey walked towards the door grumbling to himself, head pounding at the loud onslaught of music, which was now thankfully mostly dulled behind the supposedly sound proof door.

….

Rhodey was off his back for now at least. The disc was a success, now he just needed to get Jarvis to start manufacture, design the circuit board for automatic detonation then work on integrating the technology into Clint's arrows and pick an adhesive more elegant than duct tape. Maybe a weld would work better than an adhesive? And he'd have to do an explosive test, make sure the discs actually had enough fire power to knock these bastards right out of the sky.

He didn't even want to think about the algorithm, right now. The intricacies of space-time and quantum tunnelling integration seemed to be escaping him currently, I mean give him a break, he had about 90 hours of experience in the area.

He reached out to the disc and gave it a tug, but it wouldn't come free of the metal. He grunted at his own stupidity and tapped the button which should have disengaged it, but it didn't.

He frowned as ACDC faded into Metallica, why was his tech disobeying him? Then a feeling of dread filled him, a similar warning of peril that he had felt before Murdoch had blown himself to kingdom come.

"Jarvis mute."

The music stopped and immediately Tony realised that the disc was bleeping urgently.

"Oh shit!"

….

Rhodey stopped when the music stopped and looked back at the workshop in confusion. What was Tony doing? The quiet was suspicious.

It didn't last long.

The whole building shook suddenly, causing Rhodey to grab hold of the banister tightly. The glass all around him exploded and he felt the sharp prickle of heat as orange light erupted through the lab and he was blasted with hot air.

"Tony!" He screamed, running back into the smoke-filled room. There were small fires already being quelled by the overhead extinguishers. There were shards of metal from the alien craft strewn all over the place, but no sign of the engineer.

….

The beeping red light suddenly went steady as Tony was thrown backwards before he had a chance to react. Heat erupted through the air and he was flying, though it was a highly intentional action. A ball of flame clawed its way through the air towards him and fast flying shards of metal screamed through the air. A glimmer of blue burst into existence. Then pain exploded through his skull as he slammed into the wall.

…...

"Tony!" The panic rose in Rhodey's throat as the extent of the destruction to the lab sunk in. It was utterly destroyed, the concrete walls singed and cracked. Shards of metal impaled various objects, the floor walls and ceiling. Everything was charred or decimated.

Shit.

Then he heard a groan that made his heart both flutter and calm itself simultaneously.

Rhodey ran in the direction of the sound and spotted his friend's leg sticking out from behind the debris. Tony was crumpled in a ball, crushed against the wall by a plate of jagged metal. There was a large dent in the wall above.

"Ow!" Tony whined brightly as he kicked the metal plate away forcefully, before starting to try and untangle his limbs from the contortionist position he was strewn in.

"Stay down." Rhodey ordered, gently pressing Tony into the floor. There was no way he'd got out of an explosion that size unscathed, but he looked ok. Rhodey looked at him sceptically; Tony's face was blackened a little, and there was a little grazing on his eyebrow, but he seemed otherwise ok.

"What the hell was that?" Rhodey demanded angrily, the breath-taking panic still winding its way out of his system.

"I pressed the wrong button." Tony grunted.

"You pressed the wrong button?" Rhodey growled.

"And I think I overdid the explosives." He groaned, wincing as he huddled onto his side.

"No kidding. What Hurts?"

"M-fine." Tony slurred. "Shielded myself... I think."

"Tony you dented the concrete. What hurts?" He asked again firmly.

"What the hell happened?" Bruce yelped, Natasha and Steve were in tow. "Jarvis said there was systems error, but the goddamn tower shook."

"Crap Tony!" Natasha noticed the engineer on the floor first and suddenly all three of them were running forwards.

"Is he ok?" Steve asked.

" _He_ is perfectly fine." Tony grumbled moving to get to his feet, but instantly realised it was a bad idea. The change in height causes his head to start spinning. Pain radiated through his skull, as his vision started to blur out, the adrenaline wearing off.

"Ok." Tony groaned. "No, he isn't." He leant his weight into Rhodey suddenly, taking the airman by surprise. Rhodey gripped him tightly.

"Tony!"

The engineer lifted his hand to the back of his head tentatively and dabbed. He pulled it away, palm slick with blood and sighed exhaustedly.

Suddenly he was being held by three sets of hands. He felt so woozy and weak he just let himself be guided back down to the floor.

"Jarvis injury report?" Bruce asked.

"Pretty sure Jarvis is fried." Natasha grunted looking at the devastation in the room, whilst cradling Tony's head. "What the hell were you doing?"

"Testing." Tony grumbled as Bruce, stared concernedly into his eyes with that annoying shiny light, which he actually realised was the torch he usually kept in his desk. He looked at his desk. There wasn't much left of it.

"Apparently he pressed the wrong button and set off a device he designed to take out the alien craft." Rhodey explained.

"And how long has he been down here?"

"Not now, Steve." Natasha said quietly, but Tony didn't seem to be with it enough to notice.

"Tony?" Rhodey asked, but Tony's eyes weren't focusing, just staring blankly at one spot on the ceiling.

"Hey! Wake up." Rhodey shook him, gently.

"m -wake."

"Yeah, very convincing."

"Medical?"

"It'll heal by itself." Tony protested.

"Come on." Steve picked him up effortlessly and Tony hissed in pain. "What? What hurts Tony?"

"My back." He grunted.

"Oh, course your damn back hurts. You dented the damn wall." Rhodey repeated in a growl.

"Comrades, the voice in the ceiling said there was… Stark?"

"Gosh." Gemma gasped.

"It's all good Thor." Tony insisted.

"What in the blazes happened?" Fitz asked.

"I figured out how take out the alien craft." Tony sighed as he retold his story for the umpteenth time.

"It looks more like you took yourself out." Coulson frowned.

"Guy's its nothing. Steve put me down I can walk."

"Like hell you can. Tony, I saw that explosion, you'd be dead if you hadn't shielded yourself!" Rhodey yelled. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Can you shout at me once my head stops aching please?" Tony hissed in a whisper.

"Take him to medical, we'll talk about his later." Rhodey sighed.

….

"How is he?" Steve asked Bruce a few hours after the explosion.

"Just a concussion and some bruises, nothing broken. CAEB's already fixed him up, his healing's getting faster."

"How did this happen?"

"Apparently, he thought he'd disabled the explosives before he tested the disc, but there had been a computer error. He's been running the processing power close to the wire, so the computer couldn't handle it. He didn't notice, pressed the wrong button, and yes, before you ask, he broke the 14-hour rule."

"By how much?"

"By double."

"Ok, I think we need more extreme measures."

"Like what?"

"You can alter Jarvis' coding, right?"

"Oh, no, no, no… I like my head where it's at and if I mess with Jarvis, he might actually kill me."

"Not if he kills himself first." Steve said very seriously, and Bruce knew he had a point.

Bruce sighed. "What are you suggesting?"

"A time lock on the lab door."

"Well that's going to take time; time that we could be spending on winning this damn war."

"Well, there is the damage to the lab for starters."

"He'll just use R&D Steve."

"Pepper has waded in. Tony is out of action for at least 24hours, longer if Rhodey gets his way…"

"We both know he won't." Bruce grunted.

"Granted, but in the long run you've got to admit this is for the best."

"Look, talk to Rhodey about it, the last thing we need is Tony on warpath because we did this without his consent."

"Bruce…"

"Talk to Rhodey."

….

In the end, it was Pepper who had got the sulking Tony to agree to the time lock. It had been a week since the new restrictions had been enforced and it was like the tower had been split in two, each group rarely saw the other apart from the occasional meal time.

Currently Clint and Steve stood shoulder to shoulder, frowns on their faces, watching events fold in front of them. Steve took a bite of his apple and chewed slowly as Clint turned to him, a question on his lips.

"Can you understand a word they are saying?"

Steve swallowed, not taking his eyes off the conversation in front of him. "Nope."

The breakfast table, usually occupied by Avengers had been hijacked by four scientists, who were engaged in a lively conversation between mouthfuls of food.

"This is quite fascinating." Thor pondered, chewing on a pop tart.

"Is he eating M&M's?" Clint asked in disbelief, looking at Fitz. "In a bowl, with milk?"

"It would appear so." Thor confirmed. "It looks quite delicious, is this not normal on Midgard?"

"No!" Steve and Clint scoffed simultaneously.

"M&M's are definitely not cereal." Pepper agreed with an amused smiled, grabbing some bread and heading towards the toaster.

Tony grabbed a donut and jammed his fork into the table upright, doing the same with a knife at the other side. It was evident he was trying to illustrate something, but what scientific theory could be explained by stabbing furniture with cutlery eluded them all.

"Is Gemma the only one not eating junk?" Clint asked in disbelief watching as she took a slice of apple to put on her oatmeal. "How do they eat such rubbish and not get fat?"

"Well I mean Tony and Bruce…"

"No, I mean scientists in general. They sit around, eat junk and there they are, thin as rakes!"

"Apparently, brain work can be just as demanding as physical exertion." Steve stated.

"Bullshit!" Clint retorted.

"Oh my God, Yes!" Fitz exclaimed, jumping out of his seat. He proceeded to unthread his shoelace and tie it between the implements dug into the table, explaining something much to the delight of the others at the table.

"And why do they get so excited?" Clint continued.

"It's the shouting I don't understand. They are sitting next to each other." Steve mused. "I can barely hear myself think."

"What are you both doing?"

"Shit Tash." Clint jumped violently, grasping his chest in surprise.

Natasha had suddenly appeared next to the pair of them, pouring coffee casually.

"Language." Steve scolded.

"Well?" Natasha asked.

"Watching the Brainiacs."

"Oh, I see." Natasha nodded. "Still wondering what it's like to have one?"

"Hey. Un-called for." Clint protested.

"Like that ever stops you." Tash scoffed.

Natasha took a sip of her coffee and joined in as part of the audience.

"And there's the star trek reference! Seriously, this is so cliché."

"Clint cut it out." Natasha scolded.

Slowly Tony's whole demeanour began to change. His brow furrowed.

"Star trek…" He said softly, too quiet for anyone but Steve to hear. "Space is the thing that's moving." He said a little more loudly and Bruce turned to look at him.

"What?"

Tony suddenly sat up straight, stiffening. A strange contemplative look on his face.

"What's happening." Steve said alarmedly.

"Is the CAEB…" Clint asked nervously.

"No, that's his I'm about to have a breakthrough face." Rhodey chuckled.

"Give him 10 seconds." Pepper smiled, knowingly.

"And 3, 2…"

There was a clatter of cutlery as Tony stood up sharply from the table, jostling it. His chair fell over backwards, and he planted a foot on the table, clambering over it to find the shortest route to the lift.

"I better go make sure he doesn't blow himself up again." Rhodey sighed.

"Oh my God!" Bruce exclaimed and quickly headed in the same direction. "That's brilliant!"

"Hold the lift!" Fitz yelped, tripping over his chair and staggering, limbs flailing as he tried to keep up.

"Well, that was over quickly." Clint chuckled.

"I have a headache just from watching that." Steve rubbed his temples.

Natasha sat down. Next to Gemma, who was now the only one remaining. "What was all that about?"

"It's not worth me trying to explain." She smiled. "Let's just say they might have cracked the algorithm to predicting the portal locations."

"Well that's promising." Natasha said brightly. "Not going with them?"

"It can wait 5 minutes for me to finish eating. They get far too enthusiastic, hopefully they will have calmed down by the time I arrive."

"Boys." They said simultaneously.

…..

"I gather from the scene at breakfast that you have made some progress. Can we have a team meeting?" Steve asked Tony. It was about time to drag him out the lab.

"I thought I'd managed to come up with the algorithm we need to predict the portal locations, but I was wrong."

"You were wrong?" Steve asked in confusion. "Are you sure?"

"It doesn't match the one I saw in my vision. It's a bust." Tony snapped his pencil in frustration and threw it across the room.

"Have you got anything else to try?"

"Other than stare at it until I have some miracle revelation…"

"Give it a rest, it I'll come to you."

"Yeah, well, anyway I gave the algorithm to Fitz, see what a fresh perspective will make of it."

"You'll figure it out you always do." Steve smiled. "So, what are you working on that the moment?"

"Armour, weapons, the fun stuff. My head hurts. Needed to do something easier."

"You said the other day you'd made armour for all of us…"

"Well, yeah, of course."

"Tony, not to sound ungrateful, but not all of us do armour. Some of us rely on speed, agility, manoeuvrability..."

"Steve, I really don't think you understand what we are going to be up against. You can't tell me that you want to go up against those craft again, those lasers that hit you, without something to stop them searing your flesh off!"

"Tony, I get that I do, it's just, we'll get hit anyway if we can't move out of the way…"

"Steve, just have a look at it would you." He thrust a thick, flexible, black fabric into Steve's hand. "Give it a chance?"

Steve frowned as he flexed the fabric in his hand. It was light, well, light-ish, heavier than his current get up, but the difference was negligible. And it felt, well, nice.

"It's nothing revolutionary, but I don't think it's as bad as you're thinking."

"Is this it?" Steve asked a little confused.

"I know it's not much…" Tony said dejectedly. "I mean, it wouldn't stop a bullet at close range, from 20 yards it would prevent anything more than bruised ribs… I couldn't do anything more without making it thicker. It's incredibly heat proof, better than a top end anti-stab vest…"

Tony was babbling, and Steve's heart sank in realisation. He was worried that his designs weren't good enough, he'd been working too long, and he was starting to doubt himself. The setback with the algorithm had really knocked his confidence, it was obvious, and just so unlike Tony.

"Hey, Hey, Tony! I didn't mean it like that I wasn't disappointed, I was surprised."

"Surprised?"

"I was expecting thick Kevlar or… metal plates, but this is as flexible as my suit."

"Well, I was about to send the designs up to R&D, have them made to your sizes, you, Clint, Natasha and then you could wear them in training and see if you like them, if you don't its ok, I... there's always room for improvement… and I can dye the fabric, it doesn't have to stay black.."

"Tony…"

"Yes, I know its inconvenient, but we cannot underestimate this enemy. I have to protect you…"

"Tony stop." Steve said gently, and Tony ran his hands through his hair hesitantly. "Tony that's not your job, to protect us. We're a team, we look after each other, it's not all on you." Steve smiled, but he could tell Tony wasn't convinced. "But this is amazing Tony, it's perfect."

"Well it's not perfect…"

"Can I go show the others?" He asked.

"Yeah, if you want." Tony shrugged.

"Come up with me." Steve offered. "Talk us through it, I mean, I have no idea what I'm holding here."

"I'll come up later, I need to finish off these widow bites and start manufacturing Clint's new arrow heads and I'm experimenting with nanotech for my armour…

"Tony, you need a break."

"I've got 48 minutes left before lockdown…"

"Tony, be honest with yourself for once. Come on, you need to eat something or the CAEB will be pissed at you."

"Oh. Ok, sure, but just half an hour."

"Half an hour, you serious? Man, it's movie night, you should join us."

Tony looked incredibly hesitant and it made Steve's insides bite with concern.

"Tony, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm coming."

"Tony. Just relax a little, ok, you're a genius. If anyone can figure all this out it's you. It'll be fine."

"Yeah sure."

…..

Die Hard. They were watching Die hard. Explosions going off left right and centre. Gemma was getting jumpy every time the film got tense, as was Fitz and occasionally Steve. Bruce was deep in thought, Rhodey kept staring at Tony in concern. Coulson's mood was dark, Tony wasn't sure why, but he was angry about something. Maybe it was Fury. He'd blame it on Fury, it made him feel better. Thor was melancholy, he'd be returning home soon to help Asgard prepare and now he was missing his people. The amount of emotions floating about in such a small space was suffocating him.

He stood up suddenly.

"Tony?" Steve called him out, before he could slip out of the room.

"Need to test a theory." He said simply.

Steve smiled. "Told you, you'd figure it out."

Tony's heart sank. If only that were true.

…

The next morning was chaos. Tony hadn't slept. He'd been sat in the common room quietly reading after he'd been kicked out of the lab, again. It really was getting rather tedious. He'd been working on the stark pad instead. No lab, fine! He could do pretty much anything on his glorious tech, so he never had to stop working.

It was 5am. 5am and the kitchen was suddenly full of shouting people.

"I know it was one of you, you just eat everything you see! Honestly you are such pigs!" Gemma was shouting at Clint, Thor and Fitz, with Bruce looking on in amusement.

"Bruce was in there too, it could have been him." Clint protested.

"Is that an admission of guilt, Barton?" Gemma glared.

"No, no way, it wasn't me!"

"Dare I ask what you Clit did?" Tony grumbled at the interruption.

"Why do assume _I_ did something?" Clint protested.

"Because if something happens in this tower and it's not my fault, you're usually the culprit."

"Wow buddy, thanks a lot."

"Someone ate the last donut." Gemma grumbled. "I'm not picky, I'm not greedy, I'm really not… But there were 4 each, 4! And I already conceded 3 of mine to the rest of you because I only wanted one, but no, someone still went and ate it."

"You going to apologise Legolas?" Tony asked.

"Why do you think it was me?" Clint said, exasperated.

"Bruce doesn't steal food, Thor would have confessed by now and well I only see one chunky chicken in this room."

"For the love of… It wasn't me!" Clint yelped, turning to storm out of the room.

"Well, I'm going to bed." Gemma huffed and followed him. Leaving Bruce and Tony chuckling with a startled looking Fitz and Thor.

"Stark." Thor approached him. "You are well I trust?"

"Yeah Thor, I'm good." Tony dismissed the question lightly. He hadn't seen much of the thunder God, or anyone other than Steve or his little team of science nerds since he'd started working, and even though it was clear Thor wanted to catch up Tony just didn't want to be social right now, he was thinking.

"I must prepare to go to Asgard, it is time my forces were informed of our plans." Thor announced.

"Sounds good Buddy, keep us updated."

"I will inform the captain." Thor nodded.

"Well, I'm with Gemma." Bruce grunted. "Bed seems like a good idea. What are you even doing up Tony?"

"I'm allowed back in the lab in…" Tony looked at the clock on his screen. "15 minutes, just thought I'd get my blood stream saturated with caffeine."

"Right, well, take it easy."

"Sure." Tony said absentmindedly.

That left Tony and Fitz alone in the room. Tony stared into the screen, while Fitz turned to leave the room knowing he was as tired as the rest of them who had finally turned in.

"Was it worth it?" Tony asked, just before Fitz went out of ear shot.

"Was what worth it?" Fitz said with feigned innocence, but his pasty Scottish cheeks were flushed red. He really was a terrible liar.

"The donut."

"How did you know?"

"I can feel your guilt from here, super powers remember."

"You're not going to tell her?"

"No, I'm no snitch. But that doesn't mean she isn't going to find out." Tony smirked. Oh, Fitz was in for it. It was just a matter of time.

…

"Tony?"

"Barton." He said cheerily. But internally cringed. Something was wrong. He could feel Clint's distress radiating into the room and it made his own stomach start to flip. It had been a couple more days. Steve and Clint were taken with the under armour. Natasha hadn't said a thing. 2 out of 3 wasn't bad. The algorithm, was driving him insane. He'd spent every single second he was allowed in the lab, and the rest of the time, waiting to go back in, writing out calculations ready to start work on when the door finally opened.

That's what he was doing right now. He was sat in a corridor, out of the way, on a beanbag he'd stolen from the communal hall. It was a weird place to sit. He didn't feel like talking to the others. He needed to think, and he was feeling pretty rubbish. Every time he closed his eyes he could see the warzone that would become New York and he wondered, if he really had been seeing the future, then how the hell was he supposed to stop all of it from happening?

"Surprised to see you out of the lab. Feels like we've got 'team science' and 'team dumbwads' in the tower at the moment." Clint snapped him out of it. It was clear he wanted to talk about something, so Tony put down the Stark pad and gave Clint his full attention

"I'm locked out till 3pm, by order of 'team overprotective'."

"Consisting of?" Clint smiled, but Tony could feel its falseness and it made him shudder.

"Bruce, Pepper Rhodey and Steve. And now Coulson apparently."

"You can add Natasha to that list."

"Getting on your nerves?"

"You could say." Clint said dejectedly.

"How you doing?" Tony asked in concern.

Clint sighed. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about Tony." Clint looked nervous and it wasn't a befitting look on the archer. Tony could feel his anxiety and it was so stifling that made him feel nauseous, he was desperate to ask something, it was obvious.

"Clint, you can ask me anything, you know, that right?" Tony prompted.

"I'm not sure if you mean that." Clint scoffed. The feeling suddenly grew darker and Tony almost vomited.

"Clint, just spill would you!" Tony said a little harshly. "Remember I can sense what you're feeling and unless you stabbed Pepper in her sleep last night, it really can't be bad enough to justify the amount you are worrying about it."

"Tony, are you ok?" Oh great, now there was concern to add to everything else.

"You didn't stab Pepper in her sleep last night, did you?"

"No of course not."

"Then its fine. Use your words." Tony said, trying to control his breathing. He had to find a way to turn down the connections or this was going to start driving him insane. He was starting to find a slight downside to this implant. It supported the CAEB maybe a little too well, making it difficult to shut the CAEB off like he'd used to, and it was driving his anxiety haywire.

Clint sighed.

"It's, well, its… I'm trying to recover, obviously, I'm back into the training room, I'm getting stronger and I know you've set up contingencies, but there only what 8 weeks left and I'm nowhere near full strength…"

"Clint, please." Tony breathed.

"I was wondering if you could heal my back, like you did with Coulson's wound."

Tony stared in stunned silence for a moment. Clint shuffled in his seat nervously and watched the billionaire anxiously, searching his face for any semblance of a reaction but he couldn't find any. Why wasn't he saying anything?

"Huh." Tony finally grunted. No emotion evident in his tone.

"Huh?" Clint repeated, questioningly.

"That was it, that was what you were so worried about?"

"Well yeah, I didn't want you to think I was using you…"

"Clint, seriously, if I hadn't been so caught up in all this invasion crap I'd have probably thought of it myself and offered."

"So… It's ok?"

"Sure, Clint of course it's ok." Tony said in disbelief. "I mean it's my fault this happened in the first place and seeing you suffer it's been like… well hell. Finally, I can fix my own mistake…"

"Tony that's not what this is about. If you couldn't heal me it wouldn't change anything."

"I know that."

"Do you?"

There was a silence for a moment.

"When do you want to do it?"

"Whenever…" Clint said, though he was secretly hoping to do it sooner rather than later.

"I mean, I could give it a go now, it's not like I've got anything to do until the lab lockdown lifts."

"Are you sure?" Clint asked, but Tony could feel the surprised joy in his demeanour.

"No time like the present." Tony shrugged.

…

"Shirt off." Tony instructed as Clint lay face down on his bed.

"People are going to talk." Clint smirked.

"Yeah, well on the subject of talking… probably best not to talk to 'team overprotective' about this."

"No kidding." Clint scoffed. "But I think they might notice if I start doing back flips all of a sudden."

"Well, we might not get there just yet... If it's ok, I'd prefer to do this in a few stages, rather than all at once."

"Of course, Man. Do I do anything or?"

"Just lay there and look pretty feathers."

"Tony seriously." Clint blushed bright red. And he heard Tony crack up behind him.

"Sorry." Tony chuckled. "Couldn't resist."

"Jees." Grabbed a pillow angrily and buried his face in it.

"It shouldn't hurt so if it does, tell me."

"What should I feel?"

"I don't know, probably should have asked Coulson prior to this."

"This is safe right?"

"You have to ask?" Tony said, indignantly. 'It is for you.' He thought to himself.

"Sorry."

Clint felt Tony's hands on his back, fingers tracing the surgery scar. There was nothing for a moment and then a strange warmth spread through his back.

"Gosh that tickles."

Tony hummed in response above him, lost in concentration. Clint decided it would be best if he shut up. The tickle spread into an itch that made him want to shuffle, but he stayed still. The itch was getting quite uncomfortable after a few minutes. Tony hadn't said anything, but his breathing was getting quicker. The itch started to burn a little, it was only mildly uncomfortable, but Tony had said it shouldn't hurt. Should he say something?

He didn't get a chance to. He felt the pressure of Tony's hands lift and the sensation ended. He felt brilliant he stretched his back and all he felt was the muscles shifting, no dull ache, no resistance, it was just normal. He sighed in relief.

"Man, that is awesome!"

There was a sudden clatter, a thump then the sound of something shattering.

"Tony!" Clint jumped up from the bed and spun around. Tony was on the floor, crumpled, lying next to the sideboard he'd taken down with him.

"Jesus, shit!" Clint knelt down by Tony's side quickly. "Tony?" The engineer's face was pale and blood was streaming from his nose, again.

Tony grunted, eyes flickering open. "Jarvis, not a word!"

"As you wish, sir." The disgruntled sounding reply rang through the room.

"You idiot, you didn't have to do it all at once!" Clint scolded. He grabbed Tony's arm and wrapped it over his shoulder, hauling Tony to his feet and depositing him on the bed.

"I didn't." Tony grunted. "I didn't finish the job. I'd guess about 70%. We're going to need to go again."

"Well not anytime soon you're not." Clint grumbled. "What do you need? Should I call Bruce?"

"Not team overprotective." Tony whined. "Just get me something sugary and I'll be good."

Clint cocked his head to the side. "Tony, when was the last time you ate anything?"

"I don't know." He admitted.

"14 hours ago, you had a slice of toast."

"Thank you so much J." Tony spat sarcastically.

"You're welcome Sir."

"Bitch." Tony sighed, letting his eyes slip closed.

Clint mentally kicked himself. Of course Tony had just completely over done it. He shouldn't have asked him to do this.

"Ok, I'll be right back, don't move!" Clint growled, pulling his shirt back on.

"Not planning on it."

Clint headed for the door hastily, smiling to himself at the strength he felt in his legs. Ok, maybe it was kind of worth it.

"Oh Clint?"

"What?" Clint stopped and turned around.

"What do I say if someone walks in and finds me in your bed?"

"Shut up Stark!"

…..

Clint was flinging the cupboards open but he kept striking out. There were chips, pretzels, popcorn, peanut butter? Was that sugary… No, he didn't think so. Where the hell was the sugar? There had been three packets of Oreo's last night and the pop tart boxes were empty, there wasn't even any ice cream.

"Damn it I need sugar!" He cried out, knelt on the floor, head in the back of a cupboard.

"Clint?" An intrigued voice came from behind him. Shit.

"Oh, ughh, Hi Tash." He said, getting up… too quickly he realised, he was supposed to find that difficult.

"What are you doing other than making a mess?"

"Hungry, craving sugar, but all there is, is empty packets."

"If you want something sweet, why don't you go for fruit. Thor went on a midnight hunger rampage, so I doubt you'll find much else."

Clint looked at the fruit bowl with a sigh. Tony wasn't going to be pleased, there were only apples and bananas, and Tony was pretty wiped. Eating an apple wasn't going to be the easiest thing, so he grabbed some bananas and opened the fridge again. Orange juice, Bingo! He took the cartoon and a glass from the cupboard and muttered a thanks to Natasha.

"Natasha, what's up?" Bruce asked as he came into the kitchen and noticed Natasha's pensive stare instantly.

"Something's going on." Natasha frowned.

"What is it?" Bruce asked curiously.

"Clint just took three bananas."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Clint hates bananas."

"OK…"

"He's up to something." She stated.

"I don't get it, what would he want bananas for?"

"I don't know, but he just got up off his knees like it was nothing. He's been struggling to do that for weeks."

"Natasha, we know he's getting stronger…"

"Not overnight he didn't." Natasha frowned. "He was searching for sugar." She said slowly.

"Oh."

"Exactly. This smells of Stark. Do you know where he is?"

"No, we're all locked out of the labs until 3pm for our forced break."

"Right that's it, I'm going to follow him." Natasha put down her plate and marched off.

"Natasha wait up."

….

"Here."

Tony grunted and let his eyes open, to see Clint's concerned face. He felt a hand on the back of his shirt helping to pull him up a little. A glass was pressed to his lips and he drank gratefully.

"I'm sorry all I've got is fruit. Apparently, Thor cleaned us out last night."

"Clint, right now I'm not going to complain." Tony beckoned for Clint to hand over the carton and he chugged on it greedily.

"Take it easy." Clint chuckled.

"I'm going need to have a concentrated glucose solution put in my suit to stop this from happening in battle." Tony said, more as a mental note.

"Probably a good idea. Is that going to be enough?" He gestured to what he brought.

"Enough to get me to my secret stash when the workshop re-opens in an…" Tony stopped dead. "Shit." He hissed in a whisper.

"What." Clint went wide eyed.

"Natasha and Bruce, they're coming."

"Oh shit, bananas!"

"What?" Tony looked at Clint incredulously. Did Clint just say bananas?

"I hate bananas. She noticed."

"Of course, she noticed! Why the hell did you bring bananas?" Tony hissed.

"It was either that or apples, but you were so out of it I didn't think you'd manage them."

"I've got to get out of here."

"Why don't we just tell them? I'd rather be sure you're ok."

"Because they'll be mad that I overdid it, stop us finishing the job and probably impose more restrictions on me in the lab. And I'm fine." Tony growled.

"Well what do you want to do, hide?"

"I'll teleport."

"Are you stupid?" Clint jumped to his feet and trod on a banana, squashing it into the carpet. "You're wiped out."

"I'll teleport into the lab and stuff my face. Teleporting's not that hard."

"Compared to what?"

"Shut up they're literally at the end of the corridor." Tony closed his eyes and tried to concentrate.

Clint looked round and Tony was gone. "Jarvis, did he make it ok?"

"Mr. Stark is… fine. Relatively speaking."

"Great." That would have to do.

He breathed, he'd probably have to explain the bananas and his back. Then he had an idea. He ran to his wardrobe, pulling off his shirt and looking for his bow.

…...

"Clint!" Natasha opened the door quickly and burst into his room. An arrow suddenly thwacked into the door not far from her head. A Banana was impaled on the end of it.

"Jesus Tash, I could have shot you!" Clint exclaimed, lowering his bow quickly. "Knock in future!"

"Why are you shooting at Banana's?" Natasha asked unconvinced. "Why are you shooting outside the training room anyway?"

"Because Thor ate all the pop tarts, so I'm pissed. And the bananas deserved it. Devils fruit." He muttered at the end.

"Where is Tony?" She asked, stoically.

"I don't know."

"You're not selling it Clint."

Clint bit his lip. "He may or may not be trying to teleport back into the lab."

"Oh, for God's sake." Bruce exclaimed, turning tail and heading for the lift.

Natasha stayed at the door and glared at Clint suspiciously.

"What?" He asked, with feigned innocence.

"How's your back." She said accusatorily.

"Oh my God you have to check this out." Clint lifted his shirt, showing the layer of stiff black woven fabric underneath. "Been trying out Tony's knew Body armour, have you worn it yet?"

"No, I haven't." She admitted. She wasn't totally keen on the idea, she was not an armour person.

"Well, it's brilliant, I barely know I'm wearing it and he's designed it to support my back, I have so much more manoeuvrability…."

"Right." Natasha mused. "Well don't wear it too much. You have to get strong without it."

"No, I know."

Natasha frowned. Something still wasn't right.

"What did you want anyway?"

"Nothing." She grunted and left the room to follow Bruce.

…..

"Tony, we know you're in there." Bruce growled. He couldn't enter the lab; the external lock was active for another 36minutes. "Jarvis, let me in."

There was a moment of silence before the lab door clicked open. Great, the computer was on his side at least, but that made him worried. Jarvis only disobeyed Tony when he was in trouble.

"Tony!" Bruce shouted. Natasha was not far behind, just coming down the stairs.

There were several cans of Red Bull strewn across the floor next to the sofa, on which Tony was laid out fast asleep. He'd had a nose bleed, it had been wiped off, but there were still signs of crusted blood. On his skin.

"Tony. Wake up."

Tony groaned and turned away from the noise.

"Hey!" Bruce nudged the billionaire.

"What?" Tony rolled over and nearly straight off the couch, but Natasha braced him.

"Yes exactly, what? What are you doing in here?"

"Needed sugar. Secret supply in here."

"Why?"

"Was practicing in the green room."

"Practising. Using your powers?" Bruce asked surprised.

"Yeah. Everyone else was training, thought I'd better."

"You overdid it."

"It's called training, you're supposed to overdo it."

"Tony…"

"That Shielding thing could make us untouchable if I could get it down."

"Tony, you did pretty well with that explosion."

"Yeah, but it nearly drained me, I couldn't do that more than once. I either need to get stronger or find a more efficient way of doing it."

"You're still not meant to be teleporting into the lab."

"Well then in future we better get me my own cupboard, so there's always some sugar when I need it that isn't fair game to guzzle guts."

"You know complex Carbs work just as well as sugar Tony."

"They don't work fast enough." Tony grumbled. "Can I go back to sleep now?" He asked irately.

Bruce sighed. "Fine." He decided. "But no work until 3pm and you're out of here by midnight."

"Yeah, yeah fine."

Bruce and Natasha turned tail and made for the door.

"You buying any of that?" Bruce asked her as they climbed the stairs.

"Not one word." She muttered.

…

It took a week for Tony to feel right and he used that term loosely. Every time he walked past someone in the tower he was hit with their emotions like a truck and with the current situation, a lot of the time it was stress and anxiety. Like Tony didn't have enough of that himself.

He'd tried another session with Clint yesterday, experimenting with a glucose IV to see if he could last longer and he had been less drained afterwards, but he just felt weak. He'd played it off to Clint, just saying he was being cautious, the truth was he was useless. He'd only got a little further, it would take another session to get the archer back to full fitness. Clint was ecstatic. But that didn't help.

They had 5 weeks left before it all went to shit, and they were nowhere near ready.

Coulson and the non lab-bound Avengers had been working on the strategy. There were regular meetings to keep everyone updated, but Tony hadn't been keeping up. He was too distracted; Preoccupied with the mountain of stuff he had to miraculously achieve in the next few weeks.

All he got were questions. How's it going? Made any progress? Or expectation; 'You'll figure it out' 'It'll come to you.' They were relying on him. It was completely and utterly in his hands. And he hadn't told them that he had no idea what to do now. He kept hitting walls and making mistakes. The explosion, the algorithm… He hadn't actually figured anything out and they were running out of time. And if he failed, they would all die. Everyone would die. He was the only one who could do anything about it.

He stared at the algorithm on the wall again, comparing the one he'd derived with the one from his vision. They were nowhere near a match and he had no idea what he'd done wrong. The coefficients were all over the place and there were two extra variables in his that didn't appear in the other. He'd checked and checked and checked again… 87 times to be precise. When he'd not been checking, he'd been working on a machine to close the portals, block the portals, hell even just make the portals smaller, but all the simulations kept coming up a bust. Actually, the computer crashed before it had chance to get through 20% of the program.

It was a long shot, he knew that. He was trying to advance science 100 years in a few weeks. He was getting there, but was he going to get there in time? He knew the answer. There was no way and even if he got answers he couldn't even trust his work anymore.

Fitz was working on weapons upgrades for him and the kid was doing an excellent Job, but Tony being Tony felt the need to check over everything. This was his team, he was responsible for keeping them safe, he couldn't afford to be complacent or leave anything unchecked.

Gemma and Bruce were looking into the biological make-up of the creatures that had been sent through to fight them so far, trying to find out what they could. They all had the algorithm, but nobody could make sense of it either.

Fitz seemed convinced that Tony hadn't made a mistake, and under any other circumstance Tony would have agreed with him. He didn't make mistakes. But this time it was the only viable explanation and if he'd made a mistake on this then what's to say he wasn't messing up everything else? His head was a complete mess.

Now Tony was left to himself, dragged out the lab by Steve usually when the time came. He'd occasionally see the other's when they had a question or had made some progress. But they were all waiting on him, especially for the date of the attack. He'd figured that out weeks ago to an 87% certainty... but 87% wasn't 100%. He had to be sure, especially now, when he so unreliable.

The countdown clock on his wall was ticking.

He sat outside the lab, waiting for the time lock to expire. He had another 3 minutes. He looked at his watch and reminded himself to breath. He didn't have time to be wasting. He watched the clock count down and he realised he was trembling. His stomach was tying itself in knots.

Rhodey was away, the Air force was only lenient to a point, he had work to do. Pepper was trying to broker a deal with some company or another, she'd been in meetings all week. He hadn't seen her at all. She hadn't even been home to bed. Half of the tower's occupants were discussing battle tactics, Thor was back and forwards to Asgard like some sort of intergalactic yoyo, the rest were doing as he was, in and out of labs with nothing in-between.

Tony was used to feeling isolated, but this time it was strange. He was surrounded by people but hadn't had a meaningful conversation in weeks. He knew what everyone was feeling, yet they never talked about it. And he couldn't turn it off. He couldn't sleep either. The nightmares were back with a vengeance. He knew he shouldn't be keeping it to himself, but it wasn't like he had anyone to talk to at the moment anyway. He hadn't the time to fall apart.

He needed to get in to the lab now!

He cried out in frustration, lashing out at the door, hard, knowing too well the glass wouldn't break. He was still disappointed when it didn't. He rested his forehead against the glass and closed his eyes. Calculations were streaming through his head, it was too much… he had to write it down, it was too important to forget. He didn't usually forget stuff, but what if he forgot now? Just like he'd made a mistake. He searched his pockets for a pen and sighed in relief when he found one. He started scribbling on the white paint of the wall, but the more he wrote down the more rushed into his head to replace it.

When the door finally opened he was breathing heavily. Only once he got to work did the anxiety start to subside. Tony fiddled with the wiring in his machine but realised how futile this was. What was the point in building a machine he couldn't test? The algorithm didn't work, he needed a portal to see if his half-built machine would work. Or a simulation of a portal… but they didn't have the computer power for that, it just kept crashing. There wasn't a computer on earth that was powerful enough for that.

But that didn't mean there couldn't be one.

"Jarvis get me Fitz!"

"Hey Mr. Stark."

"Just Tony please Fitz. How good are you with building computers?

"You want to build a computer?"

"Yeah, get down here I need an extra pair of hands."

…..

 _The figure in silver stood in the centre of the open square. Edraskil. And he had chosen to rain down terror upon the city. People were running, screaming as a petrol tanker was carried into the air by a prickling orange energy. Tony had craft on his tail, he deployed his weapons and watched as they were blown away into oblivion._

 _A building exploded, shockwaves pulsing through the air and knocking his flight off balance. The structure didn't stand a chance as the petrol tanker erupted at its base, dust exploded into the air as rubble rained down into the street._

 _"_ _Clint!" Natasha screamed. Her voice released in a primal howl of pain as Jarvis confirmed it too late. Clint had been on the ground floor. The archer was dead. So was everyone else in the structure._

 _The sound of air being beaten whipped through the square. Thor flew into view and hit the silver clad figure full force. The pair smashed into the statue, rolling onto the concrete, struggling to regain their feet. Tony touched down; barely taking his eyes off the enemy, he saw Steve gesturing to him. He understood the signal; Tony gave covering fire while Steve got the surviving civilians to safety._

 _"_ _Natasha NO!" Steve yelled. Tony whipped round but it was too late, he tried to throw a shield up to stop Natasha on her warpath, but the orange energy got there first. He felt his skull burn as the CAEB was hit with something just as powerful, maybe more so and then he saw the red headed assassin lifted into the air._

 _There was a resounding snap._

 _Her neck was broken._

 _She was dropped to the pavement limp and lifeless, her eyes still open and filled with tears._

 _Tony couldn't move, gripped with horror at the sight he was unable to stop. He was forced to his knees by the burning in his skull yelping in agony._

 _Edraskil had Thor by the throat and held his hammer in the other hand. Edraskil had the hammer! And he was laughing. Asgardian troops started rushing into the square. Thor screamed. Then growls and roars met his ear as he was wrenched off his feet. Sharp teeth started tearing at his armour, he heard a strangled desperate cry, the sound of unimaginable agony and of flesh being torn from bone. Steve!_

He couldn't watch any more.

Tony gasped as his eyes snapped open. There was something cold clawing at his chest and he lashed out before realising it was his desk that he'd been leant on. His chair tipped backwards under the force and he just had time to shield himself before his head was whacked against the concrete again.

He growled as he tried to regain his composure. He was alone in the lab, Fitz had stumbled off to get something before he, well, he must have fallen asleep, but he had no idea how long he'd been out of it. He looked at the clock, after all Jarvis couldn't talk to him when he was turned off. 4 hours. He'd just lost 4 hours. 4 hours of time that he could have been working!

The thought of the lost time made his hands start to shake, his chest was aching, and his breath left him again. This was ridiculous. He had to get back to work.

But how could he after what he had just seen? He was breathing so hard he was wheezing, his chest burned so much he scrabbled for the arc reactor. He looked down desperately. It was there, the light was on; so, a heart attack maybe? Or just panic?

"Argghhhh!" Tony yelled. He flicked his arm through the air and his chair followed its path, slamming into a server in the corner of the room. There was spit of electricity and sparks erupted into the air before the sound of a machine whirring down left the room in abject silence. The violent act did nothing to stop Tony's hands trembling. His whole body shook, his stomach churned dangerously. He felt like he was about to pass out from the adrenaline fuelled terror that was burning through his veins, but he didn't have time for this. This was pathetic. Now he'd have to fix that before he did any more work.

It took him a long time to regain his composure, but the images wouldn't leave him. Every time he blinked he saw the flashes, heard the sounds of his friends dying. He had to stop this. He had to stop the death. He had to save his friends, his city. He'd wasted enough time with Steve's petty protocols. Time was ticking, the countdown had started, and he had work to do.

…..

"Dr. Banner? Do you know where Rhodes or Miss Potts are?" Coulson asked hesitantly.

"Ermm, no, I haven't actually seen them in a few days. You asked Jarvis?"

"There may be a problem with Jarvis at the moment."

Bruce sat up straight. "What's going on?" He said in alarm.

"Ermm… I think you better come and see."

"Coulson?"

"Tony might be having a small nervous breakdown." Coulson said tentatively.

"Shit." Bruce hissed, jumping to his feet he pair rushed down to the lab and Bruce went straight for the control panel on the door before stopping dead. In the centre of the room was a glowing blue light about the height of a human, a portal… had Tony created a damn portal in the tower?

"Oh my god is that…"

"Relax." Coulson said. "I think that's some sort of holographic simulation. He keeps rolling his chair through it and he doesn't disappear off into space, so I assume it's just a projection."

Bruce took a shaky sigh to calm himself and then frowned deeply. "How on earth did he get the computing power for that?"

"He and Fitz, built a supercomputer last night." Coulson said simply.

"Last night?"

"Well, they've been working since Friday afternoon. Fitz is currently passed out upstairs. They both went over their time quota drastically."

"What happened to the automatic lab lockdown?" Bruce said, exasperated.

"They turned off Jarvis to run the computer, I tried to turn him back on, but the system… well its severely compromised. All the power has been diverted. He's been in here 77 hours."

"Jesus Christ!"

Tony was whizzing round the lab. The only thing that could describe the way he looked was like mad-man. There was a portal simulation in the middle of the room, along with this huge machine which was nothing more than a bundle of metal and wires… and was that the remnants of the particle accelerator he used to make the inhibitor?

There were pieces of armour strewn all over the place and arranged around the lab was all their gear. Tony currently had his head buried in the machine at the centre of the room, wires between his teeth he was prodding the circuit board with a screwdriver. He made a few adjustments and then jumped into his chair by the computer, setting a simulation running. Then he was gone again, wheeling across the room to an armour gauntlet, then to Caps' shield, fitting magnets into the handle and glove, then a few electronic tweaks to the widow's bites…

This was insane. Tony was dashing between projects haphazardly barely coming up for air, the number of caffeinated beverage cans strewn on the floor was alarming and a huge whiteboard in the corner of the room was covered in barely legible calculations. Tony's handwriting was usually a work of art, but that board looked like nothing more than scribbles. It was weird as well, Tony wasn't usually as old school as this, he'd always use his holograms or computers rather than physically writing stuff down.

Most worryingly there was a giant countdown clock on the wall above them. Had Tony figured out the date? Why hadn't he said anything?

"Ok, this has to stop." Bruce said in exasperation.

He tapped his thumb on the biometric keypad and was relieved to see that the door swung open and he hadn't been locked out. They were almost knocked off their feet by the wall of sound. It was just a mangle of lyrics and percussion that was completely overwhelming.

"Wait a minute, is that Beethoven?" Bruce yelled over the cacophony.

"Symphony number 5." Coulson nodded with a smirk.

" _And_ Black Sabbath." Bruce rubbed his face. What was the best way to deal with this?

"Bruce." Coulson pointed to the wall just outside the lab door. It was covered almost floor to ceiling with algebraic calculations drawn on in a variety of biros and marker pens.

"Looks like he's been using his breaks wisely." Bruce growled. "I thought Steve was keeping an eye on him!"

"Steve drops down to the lab to make sure Tony comes out every time..." Coulson frowned.

"So how did we miss this? What the hell has Steve been doing since Friday?"

"It's been pretty hectic upstairs, meetings with Fury all week, the rest of the time they are training, maybe there's been a miscommunication somewhere along the line?"

Bruce looked mad. But he didn't say anything. Right now, they needed to calm Tony down and get him out of there.

"Hey Tony." Bruce approached the man carefully. Tony didn't look up. He wasn't even sure if the man had heard him.

"Coulson would you please get Pepper on the phone. Tell her its urgent."

"On it." Coulson nodded.

Bruce moved closer to Tony.

"Bruce? You found something?" Tony asked hopefully, surprised to see someone in his lab. His Jaw was tense, his eyes a little bloodshot, hair wild and ruffled.

"No, Tony…" Tony's face fell and his eye's returned to the screen. His shoulders seemed to hold themselves a little tighter for a few second and he didn't move, staring into space. "You've been down here more than 3 days."

"No one came and told me to leave so..." Tony shrugged, but suddenly tensed up. Bruce frowned.

"Fair enough, Tony, but it's time to have a rest."

Tony didn't answer. He was stiff, tense, holding his breath.

"Tony?" Bruce prompted.

"No." Tony's voice was dark; his hands were shaking, and Bruce felt his insides curl. The second they did, Tony started to look even more skittish.

"No?"

"I need to stay here." Tony said firmly, but his voice was quiet. Hoarse from underuse.

"Tony why?"

There was a moment of tense and abject silence as Tony kept himself turned firmly away from his friend.

"I can't stop." He breathed. The façade started to crumble, and so did the man. Bruce rushed forward, taking hold of Tony's shoulders.

"Tony?" Bruce's brow creased. "Talk to me."

"I can't stop Bruce!" Terror turned to anger as Tony yelled in frustration. "We don't have time for Steve's enforced breaks or pointless things like sleep…"

"Tony, superpowered or not if you don't sleep…"

"I'm not leaving."

"Tony, come on..."

"If I stop, we're not going to get there in time and people are going to die, you'll all die and it will be my fault..." Tony's breathing was slowly spiralling. He went to stand up, but his legs gave out.

"Ok, Tony, ok. Just breath." Bruce guided him to the floor. Tony's eyes were going glassy and Bruce started to panic. Tony was having a panic attack, he hated dealing with panic attacks, he felt so useless. Tony suddenly started panting harder. Shit he was going to hyperventilate.

The more Bruce panicked the worse Tony got.

"Tony, breathe, its ok, I'm here just breathe. You're ok."

Bruce took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. It was just a panic attack. The worst thing that could happen was he'd pass out from hyperventilating. It was going to be fine.

As Bruce calmed down so did Tony and that intrigued the scientist. Oh God! Tony was picking up on his emotional state. He was probably picking up everyone's. The tower was full of stress, it would have been driving him crazy.

"Ok Tony. I'm sorry."

Tony wasn't responding. He curled into himself and rocked slowly. All Bruce could do now was keep calm and talk him through it and wait for him to drag himself out.

….

 **I'll get the next chapter sorted out and up as soon as I can.**

 **PLEASE GUYS!**  
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	33. Chapter 33 - So Many Pieces

**Hello Guys, I'm not dead! Apologies by way of 'Here's 10k to celebrate my return'.**

 **God, I can only apologise for the wait on this. Not only was this very difficult for me to write, but since starting back at Uni I've just family crisis after family crisis so writing has been the last thing on my mind and I really have just had to get through life one day at a time up till now.**

 **I actually finished chapter 34 before this one, but my recent (poor) frame of mind helped in writing this one. But here it is. Let's see how poor Tony is doing.**

 _Previously._

 _With the implant in place Tony has been making great progress with his powers, including healing a gravely injured Coulson and containing an explosion during a rescue mission and starting to heal Clint's back. Though his much stronger link to the CAEB has been found to have its downsides as Tony discovers he is feeling everyone else's emotions and it is finding overwhelming._

 _Tony hits a dead end with the algorithm. The one he has derived for himself is not a match to the one he saw in his visions and he no longer has any faith in his work._

 _The nightmares have started again, and he learns that he will be left to face Kairon alone, with his team dead and bears witness to the deaths of Clint, Steve and Natasha._

 _Desperate to make an impossible deadline and save his friends from their fate the time restrictions Steve has imposed on lab work are adding to his anxiety._

 _He and Fitz build a supercomputer to work portal simulations and disable Jarvis in the process. With no time lock on the lab door Tony stays there for 77hours until Coulson finds him mid breakdown._

 _Bruce tried to get the engineer out of the lab, but his own concern for the billionaire sends Tony into a panic attack. He withdraws and goes catatonic while Coulson calls Pepper._

'Tony wasn't responding. He curled into himself and rocked slowly. All Bruce could do now was keep calm and talk him through it and wait for him to drag himself out.'

Chapter 33 – So many pieces

"Bruce?" Pepper's voice came from the doorway. Coulson was with her, as were Steve and Natasha. It had been nearly an hour and Tony hadn't budged. Bruce had just sat with him, trying to think of what say that might help him snap out of whatever corner of his head he'd retreated into.

"Come in Pepper, just stay nice and calm, the CAEB's picking up on everyone else's emotions. The rest of you go back upstairs, you're not needed." Bruce hadn't meant it to sound harsh, but he was worried and angry and suppressing it all as best he could for Tony's sake. He took a breath and let it go again, letting his thoughts drift back to calmness.

Pepper crouched very closely next to Tony.

"Tony Honey." She said softly. Her voice was incredibly peaceful and even, like she was lulling him out of sleep. Bruce smiled as the tension started to drain from Tony's shoulders. "I'm here Tony." She put a gentle hand on the billionaire's shoulder and his breathing started to quiet.

Bruce hadn't expected such an immediate response, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Tony had always had a strong connection with Pepper through this whole CAEB thing and it seemed currently to be working to their advantage,

"Can you look at me Tony?" She asked gently.

The broken engineer moved for the first time in 52 minutes. He blinked, his eyes coming into focus and swallowed, looking around the room a little in confusion.

"It's ok Tony, It's ok."

Tony shook his head and pulled it into his hands.

"No honey, come on, look at me." Pepper said a little more firmly and Tony slowly looked up, but his hands stayed clamped on his head, nails digging into his scalp.

"How long?" Tony's voice wasn't much more than a whimper.

"No." Pepper smiled warmly shaking her head, but there was no negativity in her voice. She gently took his hands and guided them into hers.

"I have to get back to work." He said shakily.

"No, you don't." She said softly, and Tony's breathing suddenly started dissolving again, he started trembling, pulling away.

"Pepper you don't understand…"

"Tony, No, No, No." She held on to him firmly. "Shhh. Focus on me, nothing else, just me."

Tony slowly started to relax again, though the tremor didn't leave him, he leant into the red head as if he was trying to hide. "That's it. It's ok. Just breathe. I've got you Tony."

She slipped her fingers round the back of his neck and he sighed as they ran up into his hair.

….

Steve didn't leave when Bruce told them to. None of them did. How could they? They didn't know what was happening, just that something was very wrong. Tony was a state, huddled in the corner of the room and Bruce was keeping a wary distance. It quickly became obvious that he was having a severe panic attack. What the hell had happened?

Pepper slowly coaxed him into lifting his head and then held him silently for a few minutes, just running her fingers through his hair. He clung onto her shoulders for dear life, pressing his face into her neck. He was shaking. Steve felt ill.

After a while Pepper started to whisper to him again. Even with his hearing, he couldn't make out what she was saying. He saw Tony's lips move a few times and Pepper nodded. They started talking a little more, just mutterings. Tony lifted his head and now they were pressed forehead to forehead. His hands relaxed their grip, moving away from her shoulder.

Pepper smiled softly, rubbing his back in soothing circles.

"What do you feel now?" She said more normally, loud enough for Steve to hear.

"I-I feel sick." Tony's voice was still as shaky as his body, which trembled lightly. "My chest aches."

Pepper looked over to Bruce who nodded, mouthing 'it's ok, that's normal'. She nodded and smiled back at Tony, moving her hand to rub over the arc reactor. Nobody did that, Steve knew that was a no go, but Pepper doing it seemed to stop him shaking. She took his hands again and kissed them, then moved away, without letting go.

They both got to their feet and stood for a moment until Tony nodded and they started to walk back towards the door. Tony looked small, defeated. He walked with his head bowed, taking small, exhausted steps. Pepper threaded her arm around his shoulders, standing between him and the rest of them as they walked past. Tony didn't look up. Neither of them acknowledged the others near them. They just kept walking until they were out of sight.

…..

They walked into their bedroom without a word. Pepper only let go to close the door behind them and Tony wandered on sitting himself down on the bed. He looked away, ashamed, as Pepper sat down next to him, but she wasn't having that. She needed to let him know that it was ok, that she didn't judge him, that there was nothing to be ashamed of, so she took him gently by the jaw and turned his face towards her, even then he wouldn't meet her eyes.

"Tony." She breathed softly.

His face screwed up and he shook his head. His eyes were wet. His chest went tense and he took a shaky breath in.

"Tony, it's alright. It's alright." She ran her hands over his shoulders briskly, her eyes telling him it was ok, to let go, that she was here.

Once that first tear broke free, the rest followed in an unbroken stream. His sobs were only interrupted by his need to gasp for air, barely muffled by the way his face pressed into Pepper's chest. She held him tightly as his shoulders shook and his tears dampened her skin. He was limp in her arms as she pulled him further onto the bed, lying them down and cradling him as he wept, rocking him gently.

"I love you Tony." She whispered into his ear, pressing a soft kiss into his hair. "I love you." She said it over and over as he cried himself into oblivion. When he finally grew still he was fast asleep, exhausted; physically, mentally and emotionally he was done.

She stayed there as he slept, watching over him as he finally rested peacefully.

…..

"Bruce?" Steve asked as the man walked back into the common room. He looked exhausted.

"He's asleep. Pepper's looking after him." Bruce sunk down in the chair.

"I'm going to ask the obvious question." Natasha said solemnly.

"I found Fitz stumbling around this morning, sleep deprived." Coulson started. "Apparently he and Tony have been building a supercomputer since Friday…"

"Friday? What about the time locks?" Clint asked in shock.

"They disabled Jarvis." Bruce scoffed.

"Completely?" Clint said, eyebrow raised.

"Jarvis?" Bruce asked the voice he knew wouldn't answer. It didn't. "See." He said, point made.

"Oh Hell." Steve put his head in his hands. "I didn't go down to check on him yesterday."

"Just yesterday?" Bruce bit.

"I was in a meeting on Friday, I asked Thor to check on him."

"Thor went to Asgard on an emergency call." Natasha explained.

"Ok, I think we've established that mistakes have been made. We'll fix that all later." Clint cut everyone off. He really wasn't in the mood for anymore fighting or blaming each other. That wasn't going to help anyone, he just wanted to hear the rest of the story.

"Right, well, obviously after I got Fitz to bed, I went to check on Stark. He'd been down there nearly 80 hours, was working about 6 projects at once so I called in Bruce…" Coulson continued.

"When I tried to get him to stop that's when he panicked. He said he couldn't stop, that if he did we'd all die… When I got stressed he got worse." Bruce sighed. "Pepper's trying to get to the bottom of what exactly triggered this when he's feeling better, but I'm fairly sure that that a big part of it is the CAEB. He's been picking up on all our stress and anxiety."

"Oh man." Clint breathed. "Is he ok?"

"No Clint, he's not and I don't know when he will be. There's something he's not telling us." Bruce said solemnly. "We have to leave it to Pepper."

"Something he's not telling us?" Steve asked.

"Well for a start I think he's picked a Wednesday. But that isn't the problem…"

"Wait, he knows when the attack is going to be?"

"Steve, not now. Has someone called Rhodey?" Natasha asked.

"He's on the first flight tomorrow." Coulson nodded. "Pepper's asked we stay off their floor. Give them space."

"You're really worried, aren't you?" Natasha asked Bruce.

"Yes, Nat." Bruce sighed. "I'm very worried."

…

Pepper had got a little sleep; Tony's peaceful rhythmic breathing had helped her to drift off for a little while. When she woke up Tony was still fast asleep, arms and legs tangled with her own like some sort of clingy octopus. She smiled, wondering what time it was when she felt the tell-tale change in Tony's breathing that said he was waking up. A glance at the clock said it was 10am.

"Morning Tony." She whispered, petting his hair lightly. Tony's brown eyes blinked open and stared into hers. She didn't have to ask how he was, she could see it in the exhausted lines on his face despite the fact he'd slept longer in one night than he had since she'd known him.

"Do you want to get up?" She asked softly.

"Do we have to?" Tony said despondently.

"No Tony. We don't have to do anything." She smiled. That wasn't the response she expected from the engineer, he looked ashamed, defeated and she didn't know if anything she could say would make this alright.

"Rhodey will be here soon if you want to see him." She offered.

"I don't… Maybe later." Tony said dejectedly.

"That's ok." She said in a comforting voice. "Do you want to go back to sleep?"

"I don't know." Tony's voice was void of emotion. He let his eyes slide closed, pushing his face back into the pillow, as if he were trying to hide himself from the world.

"Ok, what about something to eat?"

"I don't think so."

Pepper just nodded, not wanting to keep repeating the same phrases and seem patronising.

"I think I want a shower." He said, sitting up slowly.

Pepper linked in surprise. "Should I stay or go?"

"Could you stay here?"

"Of course, Tony."

….

Tony looked a little better when he came out of the bathroom, in a fresh t-shirt and pair of sweatpants. He crawled straight back into bed without a word. "I'm having, some toast, do you want any?"

Tony shook his head. She made an extra slice anyway and was glad when he changed his mind and had a few bites.

"I'm not going to ask you if you want to talk. I'm here as and when you want to, ok, and I won't mention it again."

Tony nodded. Then his next move, really shocked Pepper. He spoke.

"I can't do it Pep."

"Do what Tony?"

"All this stuff I have to do to be ready. It's…" Tony sighed. "I'm not good enough Pep. I'm making mistakes…"

"Tony Stark. If I ever hear you say you're not good enough again."

"I mean it Pep. I've reached dead end after dead end. And there isn't enough time…" Tony started shaking again and Pepper instantly pulled him closer.

"Tony, breathe." She guided him through taking deep breaths, but it still took a few minutes until he calmed down. He looked so incredibly fragile that Pepper's heart nearly broke. But she remembered what Bruce has said about the CAEB and made sure that her thoughts and feelings that were desperate to care for Tony right now were the ones that shouted the loudest.

"Look Tony. I don't understand even the slightest thing about what you are trying to achieve, but what I do know from Bruce is that this is a level that no one else has ever dreamt of before, and I know you are you and that you probably expect yourself to manage this, but if you can't…"

"You don't understand Pepper… If I can't do this Pep, they're all going to die. The whole city. You, Rhodey, Steve, Clint, Tash, Thor… All the Asgardian soldiers, maybe even the whole planet. Everyone thinks I can solve these problems, build these machines, they expect me to manage it, they're planning everything based on me succeeding, and if I don't manage it we don't stand a chance. It's my fault, I lead them on, made them think I can do this, but even with the help, I'm not getting anywhere, and they keep asking how it's going and I can't tell them…"

"Shhhh." Pepper played with a strand of Tony's hair, moving it away from his forehead. She'd let him rant till this point, but she stopped him when he started to spiral. Again, a pause was needed before the engineer was stable enough to hear anything else and Pepper spoke gently, trying to imbue some logic without sounding patronising. "Tony, this is a lot of if's and maybe's…"

"I've seen it Pep. I know what's going to happen if I fail."

"What do you mean you've seen it?" Tony looked away and Pepper frowned. "You've been having nightmares again, haven't you?" She sounded shocked, but not disappointed.

"For the last week."

"Oh, Tony Honey." She sighed. "Bruce said it seemed like you were responding to our stress. Was that happening as well?"

"I mean yes, I can feel it. I can feel everything everyone else is feeling…"

"Tony that's overwhelming. No one could expect to cope with all that."

"I have to."

"No, you don't. Ok, that's not fair."

Tony rolled away, breathing out slowly.

"Look I'll be fine, I'm sorry about that… ridiculous breakdown, but I'll get my head together I just need…" He sighed, unable to form his words.

"Tony what happened, that wasn't ridiculous. Anyone other than you would have flipped months ago, given up, but Tony you have been so strong… I know you are scared of failing, but you can only do the best you can, nobody can do better than that."

"What if that's not good enough Pep?"

"Not that I believe for a second that you are not enough Tony, but even if you couldn't finish this, even if we lost the fight, that would not be your fault. If you can't solve this Tony then no one can, and I don't mean that to pressure you, I mean that to let you know that if this planet didn't have you we'd already be dead, we would be a sitting duck. The only reason we have any hope in the first place is because of you."

Tony didn't say anything, but he did roll back towards Pepper.

"Now what do you need?" She asked.

"I just need some space from the others, get my head straight, then I'll get back to work." Tony sighed.

"I don't want you to think of the work you have to do Tony." Pepper said firmly and Tony tensed up dramatically. "No, this isn't me saying that I'm going to stop you doing it, that's up to you. But I don't want you to feel you have to worry about it. You need time to recover, then when you are ready and not a second before then we think about everything else."

"Pepper…"

"You are too damn precious to me Tony Stark. I don't care about the rest of the world, screw them, I care about you."

Pepper stroked Tony's hair gently and smiled at him. his face didn't move, but maybe, just maybe his eyes looked a little less broken.

"You don't have to rush into anything Tony, I've taken leave and I'm staying with you, we could go to Malibu if you wanted, for a few days, or as long as you need."

Tony tensed up.

"Hey, relax, your choice, you're in control."

"I want to Pep, but we only have a few weeks…"

"Is there anything you are doing now that the others can't help you with?"

"Yes…"

"What?"

"The machine I'm making to try and stabilise portals when they open and then close them, I have been trying to get help from Selvig but apparently he's not doing so well after Loki's mind control… And to make it work I think I'm going to need the algorithm."

"But you're not getting anywhere with the algorithm, are you?"

"No…"

"So maybe a few days and a change of scene would help. It's not like you are going to miss anything."

Tony breathed slowly, trying to let the logic Pepper had provided him with to quell the anxiety. His problem was the algorithm stopping his progress, and there was nothing he could do about that until he had a revelation. So, he had to forget about it, for now at least.

"Ok. Maybe a few days." He said hesitantly.

Pepper smiled. "Good. Now Tony, if you need space from me, if my emotions are getting to you, because God knows when I'm worried about you and I'm emotional…"

"It's different with you Pepper." Tony whispered, eyes drooping.

Pepper kissed him on the nose. "You're still tired."

"Yeah."

"Get some rest. I'll stay here."

"Is Rhodey here yet?"

"Yes, he arrived when you were in the shower. He's waiting in the kitchen. Shall I tell him to go?"

"No. Maybe I'll talk to him later."

"Ok Tony." She smiled. "Sleep now."

…

Steve didn't stay out on his run long that morning. He didn't want to miss anything. He was feeling awful, it had been his idea to keep a strict eye on Tony and the others and he hadn't even managed to follow it through correctly. Now Tony was suffering, again.

He was back in by 8am, it looked like everyone else had been and gone for breakfast already. Bruce was reading a newspaper in his usual spot, looking more tense than usual.

"Don't even ask." Bruce grunted, of course the first thing Steve would want to know, was what had happened yesterday, or was Tony ok? But that wasn't what Steve was most concerned about right now.

"Are you Ok Bruce?"

"Am I ok?" Bruce said in surprise, then the expression turned to anger. "Am I Ok?" He set the paper down roughly and stood up.

"Well let's see, there's an imminent alien invasion that we are nowhere near ready for, the most important parts of preparing for the threat have proved impossible to obtain, we facing the end of the world and the one man who might be able to stop it has finally broken under all the shit he's been through over the past year. My best friend and doesn't believe he can do it anymore. I'm supposed to be helping, we are all supposed to be backing him up, but I don't understand half of what he's done or is doing, or is trying to so…"

Despite the evident worry at Bruce's anger, Steve trusted him enough to know the Hulk wouldn't be making an appearance. He held firm as Bruce ranted, that guy took all the crap that had been handed to Tony and the rest of the team since New York completely calmly. Tony wasn't the only one due a meltdown.

"Sit down Bruce. Talk to me."

Bruce sighed and did as the Captain asked, but he kept his mouth tightly closed. Steve was desperate to ask what he meant when he'd said Tony didn't think he could do it, but they could deal with that later. Bruce was the one sat in front of him.

"Bruce, you've been the rock for us all at one point or another, you've certainly been the rock for Tony and we've kind of just left that to you. Any mistakes we make in hurting, betraying or upsetting Stark, we leave it to you to clean up and that's not fair. We've not been fair to you."

"I don't mind Steve, that's really not the problem I just... I'm an optimist, a cautious optimist… but even still, I've been working with Tony I've seen the data, the theories, the progress we are making..."

"It's not enough is it?" Steve sighed.

"If it was a year and 5 weeks I'd have a much better feeling about this, but I don't think we've got enough time. We are relying on Tony having an impossible breakthrough, or finding a mistake in the work of the guy who doesn't make mistakes…"

"I think we are both forgetting something. I think we are forgetting how much we already have to work with. Whether you guys have a breakthrough or not, we have the locations of a lot of the portals, we can be waiting for them. There are workers pouring concrete right now, sealing up a manhole where one is going to open. Fury has agreed an evacuation strategy with us, the city will be clear. We can destroy the craft, we have an Asgardian army, the best weapons we have ever had thanks to you all. We are hardly unprepared Bruce."

"Maybe you are right."

"There's another thing that has been forgotten around here lately as well and we are all to blame for that." Steve sighed. "We've dumped all our expectation on Tony to fix all of this, dumped Tony control on you, Pepper and Rhodey. Everything we face, we face as a team, no one person should be shouldering the brunt of any part of this. Hell, we've not even been there for Clint's recovery, he's just been dealing with that himself."

"We're a mess." Bruce sighed, in agreement.

"Yes, we are. But we're not broken Bruce, none of us are and this team, we've been through worse and we have time to fix it before fight night."

"I wouldn't speak so quickly for Tony, Steve."

"How worried are you exactly Bruce?" Steve knew he couldn't avoid the subject much longer.

"I really can't say how Tony is going to be. It's going to be a case of wait and see over the next couple of days. I haven't seen Pepper since last night and I'm not going to go up there and ruin any progress with my messy emotions."

"So, he might just bounce right back for all we know." Steve raised an eyebrow.

"That's highly unlikely Steve." Bruce huffed in annoyance.

"Yes, maybe it is, and believe me I'm not trying to underestimate the extent of Tony's problems. He makes going through hell look like a holiday and I don't know how he's still holding himself together..."

"That's the thing Steve, he isn't not anymore."

"I get that Bruce, but regardless what is the point in worrying about it until we know for certain."

"What are you, team shrink all of a sudden?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure we need one."

"Isn't that the truest thing I've heard all year."

Steve took a breath and sat down, a pensive look on his face. They needed to sort this out and he thought he just the ticket.

"Right, come on, help me round everyone up."

"What for?"

"Well, apart from me, I'm not sure anyone has actually been outside in a month, so we're busting out of this joint. We'll catch a movie, then hit a restaurant or something. No work, no end of the world."

"I'm not sure how well that will go down, everyone's pretty wired at the moment."

"And that's the problem. Come on."

…

This had been the best idea Steve had, had in while. The day had been a huge success so far, they'd all been reluctant to take a day off, but in light of recent events they had accepted it was necessary. It had taken an action film, followed by a comedy in a near empty morning movie house to get everyone to start to relax, but there were now soft smiles and occasional laughs breaking into the conversations they were having.

"Clint, I've been meaning to talk to you." Steve grabbed the archer as they left the theatre. "How are you getting on, I mean, you're walking really well."

Clint looked rather sheepish at that and his stomach sank.

"Look, what I'm trying to say that with everything going on we've kind of neglected you and your recovery, apart from Natasha, we haven't been there and that's not ok, we should have done better."

"Look Steve, I think there's something I need to confess to you all at Lunch."

"Ok?"

"Just, please, I know I've screwed up, just please don't lose it."

"Right, ok. You have my word."

….

"Guys I need to tell you all something about my legs." Clint started after the surprisingly calm and collected waitress had taken their order without being embarrassingly excited at seeing the avengers.

"Is this about Tony and the bananas?" Bruce smirked.

"About what now?" Coulson asked in confusion.

"You already know?" Clint asked Bruce in surprise.

"No, we don't know exactly Clint, but I'm not stupid and neither of you were very convincing." Nat smirked.

"Granted." Clint sighed. "I needed sugar for Tony, as you've probably guessed, he needed it… because I asked him to heal my back like he healed Coulson's gunshot."

There was a little stunned silence for a moment.

"Clint why would that make us mad?" Steve asked honestly

"Because he overdid it and well, I should have known. He put himself at risk."

"Maybe it wasn't the most responsible thing for the pair of you to do without someone else there monitoring it, but we all want you back on your feet Clint. And well, here you are."

"So, are you fixed then?" Natasha asked. "Completely?"

"No, not yet, Tony needed one more session, but it's just strength stuff and I've been training again, in the middle of the night when you're all asleep."

"Huh." Natasha scoffed. "Well in that case, you're training with me, hand to hand tomorrow morning."

"Oh no Tash I don't think…"

"No excuses Barton."

"She's going to wipe the floor with him." Fitz hissed.

"I think that's the point." Steve chuckled.

"You don't lie to a woman and get away with it Fitz. We always know and we always have out revenge." Gemma smirked.

Fitz looked incredibly nervous at that.

"What's the matter Fitz." Natasha asked wryly.

"Nothing." Fitz squeaked.

"This wouldn't be about a certain Donut would it?" Bruce asked with a wry smiled.

Clint gasped in horror, picking up his fork and pointing it at the Scottish scientist. "You little… You let me take the wrap for that!"

"I'm sorry, ok, I haven't an excuse." Fitz cowered, throwing his hands up while Coulson chuckled heartily.

"Oh, dear Fitz." Gemma gave a wry smile and Natasha winked at her.

"Oh, dear indeed." Natasha smirked. They'd teamed up. Gemma had teamed up with Natasha Romanoff. Fitz's eyes went wide.

"I'm done for, aren't I?" Fitz whimpered.

"Oh Buddy, you don't even know how badly." Clint laughed.

…

Pepper woke up to Tony's fast breathing. The engineer was still asleep but restless. Another nightmare. She sat up immediately closing the space between them and very gently so as not to startle him put her hand on his back.

"Tony." She started softly. It took a few more tries but finally Tony gasped awake.

"Pep?"

"You were having a nightmare."

"Thank you." He sighed as he started to calm himself. "I didn't…" Tony stopped himself.

"Didn't what Tony?"

Tony sighed. "Hurt you or…"

"Tony… are you still worried about that?" Pepper asked in shock.

"Of course I am." Tony huffed.

"Don't be. I trust you."

"You shouldn't." Tony pulled himself out of bed hastily and grabbed a hoody.

"Tony!"

The door slammed, and Tony was gone.

…

Tony knew that he shouldn't have gone off at Pepper. She had been nothing but an angel to him and without her… he didn't want to think about that.

But every part of his head was fighting the other, logic vs emotion, fear and anxiety and pain dictating his every action. It took nothing for him to fall apart.

The worst part was that the nightmare hadn't even been his own. It was of war, but not one that had occurred while Tony had been alive. Tony knew nightmares, he knew them too well, maybe he could save his friend from this.

Tony took the elevator and rapped his knuckles lightly on the door. There was no answer, but he hadn't expected there to be, so he walked in.

…

Steve knew this fight. He knew it well. And he knew how this was going to end. But that didn't stop him trying to change it.

They were stalking through a tunnel of metal; the walls painted a dark grey. The only sound was the clicking of the trains wheels on the tracks. He glanced back uncertainly at his friend before venturing through the doorway, Bucky followed suit, but he never made it to the next carriage. The door slammed shut. They were separated. Bucky turned and started firing then Steve heard the whine of a tesseract weapon charging. He fired his pistol, ducking out of the way of the blue blast. He could hear the chatter of gunfire from Bucky's carriage, he knew his friend could look after himself but that didn't make him any less worried.

Steve hid behind his shield as he was bombarded by more blue blasts before he quickly made his move as the guns recharged. He raced towards his assailant, jumping, he swung on the sliding rack on the ceiling, shield taking one more blast before he felled the enemy with a swift kick, knocking him out with a strike from the shield.

He found the button to open the door, tossing a gun to his out-of-ammo friend and ran back into the carriage, ramming a case at the solider as Bucky shot him down.

"I had him on the ropes." Bucky insisted.

"I know you did." He replied.

It was going to happen. Any second now the guard with the tesseract made cannons was going to burst in, fire and blow the side out of the train… Bucky would be sucked out of the train and then… But it never did. Steve felt the nightmare losing its hold as something in the real world was shaking him awake.

The adrenaline in his system demanded he lash out, but his fist was caught rather strongly. He sat up, panting, the room started to come into focus as his eyes adjusted to the dark. He hated these nightmares. Even the pleasant memories that came to him as he slept were reminders of what he'd lost and what he could never get back.

Fear fading, the only question left to answer was who had saved him from the worst part of that nightmare.

Steve looked up as he felt his fist being released. Great. He'd taken a swing at one of his friends. Then he stopped in shock at the last face he was expecting to see.

"Tony?" The man's eyes were lined with stress and fatigue. His eyes were missing any spark, even in the darkness his could tell they were hollow. "Shit, sorry." He apologised as he pulled his fist out of Tony's hands. He'd ever lashed out like that after a nightmare, he could have seriously hurt someone. In fact, the CAEB must have intervened because that swing should have broken Tony's arm. Steve sat up and pulled his face into his hands, taking his time to take a few deep breaths.

"Are you ok?" The billionaire asked him. It was Tony's voice, but it sounded weird, detached, almost robotic.

Steve blinked in confusion. Still a little wired from the nightmare he took a moment to process. To be honest he was still in shock from seeing Tony in the first place. It had been the last thing he'd expected and he had no idea what to say.

"Yeah, Tony I'm good, thank you man…"

He was going to ask how he knew, but then the obviousness of the situation hit him like a truck. Tony had felt Steve's damn nightmare, that was messed up on so many levels he wanted to scream and then there was the way Tony stood, awkward, withdrawn and completely void of confidence. It wasn't Tony stood in front of him, it was a shell. Steve felt sick and Tony flinched. Shit he was making things worse.

Tony nodded curtly and turned to leave.

"Tony…" Steve tried, breathing out and attempting to calm himself.

Tony stopped and turned around slowly.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry if you felt that… that nightmare I…"

Tony shook his head. "It's fine, it's not your fault." His voice was small.

"How can we help you? How can we help you learn to shut this out."

"I can't do this now Steve." Tony said shortly.

"Ok." Steve said quickly, not wanting to drive Tony away.

"I need to go back now." Tony sighed.

"Ok." Steve smiled. "But thank you Tony, for waking me and thank you for Clint."

Tony frowned. Steve knew that he was maybe swimming in dangerous waters here, but maybe this would help, even just a little.

"We've neglected his recovery and you've helped him so much. He's buzzing Tony, what you've done is amazing."

"Yeah well I owed him."

"No, you didn't Tony. We owe you. Whatever you need we're here, just say the word and look after yourself."

Tony didn't say anything. Nothing in his demeanour changed. He just left without saying a word.

Steve lay back into bed with a sigh. He'd hoped that he could have helped. But Tony just seemed unreachable. What the hell had they done to him?

..…..

Pepper was in the lounge of the penthouse when Tony came back to their floor. She looked drained, tired, worried and upset, but the emotions were being held back strongly from the second he opened the door. He sighed knowing that was for his benefit. He hated seeing her this way, even more so when he was the cause of it.

"I'm really sorry Pep, I shouldn't have…"

She stood up and walked towards him, taking him by the shoulders. "Are you ok, Tony?"

And There it was.

"No." He admitted in a whisper. "I'm not ok."

"Was it the CAEB again?" She pried gently.

"No. It was fine, its sorted anyway."

Pepper frowned in confusion but got the hint that Tony wasn't going to say anything else. She could also tell there was something on his mind, words forming on the tip of his tongue, so she waited to let him decide if he wanted to say something or not.

"I'm not ok, because I saw how this is going to end. And now everywhere I look I see it. I don't know if I can carry on anymore, because I don't see the point. I know the world is at stake, but… it's like I don't care anymore, not after yesterday and I know that's wrong but…"

He paused to breathe and find the words to continue.

"I feel like I've lost myself Pep. The one thing I could always rely on was my head. I may not always have been able to find the answers, but this… I'm done Pepper. I'm broken, it's over. There's no point."

"Tony it's not you ok, there is nothing wrong with you, everything that is happening it's the stress that's causing it. Ok?"

Tony just looked away.

"Trust me Tony. Believe me. I know it seems like all is lost and this will never get better but please, please believe me when I say that couldn't be further from the truth." Pepper paused. "You need to tell me exactly what you saw."

When Tony finished telling her about the vision she simply nodded and gave him a weak smile.

"Tell me what you need Tony." She stroked at his hair as a look of confusion flooded across his face. HE was silent for a moment as he considered what she had asked him.

"I need you to tell me what to do. I can't… I don't want to make decisions."

"Ok then, are you still tired?"

"No, I don't want to go back to sleep." Tony admitted.

"Let's go sit and watch TV with Rhodey for a bit then."

"He's still here?"

"Of course, he's still here." Pepper smiled.

"He didn't have to wait."

"Let's go see him." Pepper cut off the thought process and gathered up a duvet as she led Tony out of the room.

…..

Early the next morning Steve wandered back into the kitchen after his shower and found it full of lively conversation.

"Don't start on the science here please, my head hurts already." Clint whined.

"Natasha bash your skull in, in training this morning?" Bruce asked with a smirk.

"No, Gemma showed me some stupid philosophical paper about what the consequences would be if 1+1 didn't equal 2 and now my head hurts."

"Apparently it would completely ruin mathematics." Natasha grunted.

"Why the hell would you be looking for stuff like that?" Steve snorted.

"Don't worry Clint it's been proven mathematically countless times. Maths isn't broken." Bruce chuckled.

"Numbers." Fitz said softly.

"What was that Fitz?" Gemma asked.

"What if the number 1 doesn't always represent 1…"

"In relation to?" Bruce asked.

"Different dimensions… what if the rules aren't always the same and that means they represent numbers in a different way."

"Hang on you think…" Bruce started, sitting to attention

"I'm not sure, I mean, there are millions of possible combinations to run…"

"Fitz, this potential alternate system you are suggesting they are using, it may not even be linear and if it isn't it will take decades for you to find the conversion factor."

"I have a starting point to work with."

"You have Tony's algorithm and half the real one, but if Tony was wrong then you will be basing this off a completely inaccurate system."

"But what I'm saying is I don't think he was wrong."

"Fitz, this is, well…"

"He's Tony Stark, Gemma, he's never wrong."

"I know that Fitz, but we are talking about the combination of general relatively, thermonuclear astrophysics and quantum mechanics, a lot of which contain highly theoretical principles... So even if he did everything right, the theory could still be wrong."

"And I'm saying that he's not, because I have been staring at that goddamn thing for the past week and there is nothing wrong with it!"

Fitz stormed off angrily.

"What the hell was that?" Steve asked.

"Fitz thinks..." Bruce started, but seemed to struggle to find the words to explain it well.

"Fitz is certain that Tony's algorithm is right, and he thinks that the reason that Tony's doesn't match the original is because the other dimension represents numbers in a different way."

"Ok…" Steve

"You think they're using a different number system." Clint clarified, his eyes lighting up at the possibility.

"I think it's a long shot." Bruce said dimly. "And Fitz is desperate to prove that Tony wasn't wrong."

"He's grasping at straws." Gemma said sullenly.

Steve shook his head in exasperation.

"No." Clint said firmly. "He's not grasping at straws."

"Clint…"

"Maybe that's the problem, maybe that's always been the problem! We are forgetting one massive thing."

"What?" Bruce asked with a frown.

"Fitz is dead right. This is Tony Stark. We are assuming he was wrong… when the man is never wrong, just because he said so and right now he has absolutely no faith in himself."

"Clint, this stuff, it's beyond anything…" Bruce started.

"No." Clint said angrily. "Fuck you both. Tony needs us to believe in him right now and I for one believe in Tony goddamn Stark. So, get your asses upstairs and help Fitz."

There was a short, stunned silence in the room as everyone looked at Clint and then between each other.

"Clint's right." Steve said simply. "Get to work."

Bruce looked a little dejected as did Gemma as the reality of Clint's words sunk in. And he _was_ right. It was a lead and they had to try it, however unlikely the possibility.

"See you at lunch." Bruce nodded.

"Before you go, there is something you all should know." Steve remembered. Bruce and Gemma turned around, stopping short of the lift and the rest of the room gave him their attention.

"I saw Tony last night."

"Steve!" Natasha started.

"I didn't go to him, he came to me." He held his hands up in defence.

"He came to you?" Natasha frowned.

"Yes." Steve nodded. "I was having a nightmare, of the day Bucky died, he woke me up."

"He knew you were having a nightmare?" Natasha asked

"I think he saw it too." Steve sighed.

"Oh hell." Clint huffed. "Why can't he get a goddamn break!"

"Did he say anything?" Natasha asked.

"Not really. He just asked if I was ok, then said he had to go." Steve said solemnly. "I told him we were there when he needed us, that we wanted to help, but would give him his space."

"How did he look?" Clint asked.

Steve glanced at Bruce and the look the two exchanged told the room exactly what they needed to know.

"Not like Tony." Steve admitted. "So, go see if this thing leads anywhere, because if it does, it just might help him."

….

"I was right! I was bloody right!"

"You are joking!" Gemma exclaimed happily.

"You've fixed it.?" Bruce asked, a little in disbelief.

"Come and look." He beckoned them over. "They were using hexadecimal system but with the opposite sign and reciprocalized. If I matched up the coefficients in Stark's equations and found the common factor, then converted the coefficients of the other dimensions algorithm I got this."

An algorithm appeared on the screen that much more closely resembled Tony's equation.

"Ok… but that's still got extra variables." Gemma pointed out.

"Yes but…" Fitz raised, and eyebrow and Gemma took a closer look.

"Then these variables cancel out and you have the same algorithm, but with the extra terms Tony derived from what was missing in his vision!" Gemma exclaimed.

"It wasn't a mistake. Bruce smiled in relief.

"No, in fact the original algorithm would have been no use to us." Fitz threw his hands up.

"Son of a bitch your right." Bruce smiled and pulled Fitz into a hug.

"OK…"

"You little friggin genius, thank you." Bruce kissed Fit on the forehead and then pulled away. "Let's go tell the others."

…..

In the end Tony had fallen asleep again without many words exchanged. They had all piled on the sofa, Tony in the middle swaddled in the duvet with Rhodey's arm over his shoulders and holding Pepper's hand, he'd rested his head on Rhodey's chest after an hour or so of rubbish late night TV and gone spark out.

He looked more peaceful than he ever had in bed but there was still something wrong. Something missing. Tony was missing his spark and neither of them knew how to get it back. Not really. They kept exchanging glances, but couldn't say a word, not with Tony right between them. They were desperate to discuss the situation but not where the engineer might hear them.

The early morning sun bleeding in through the windows didn't wake Pepper like it normally would have. It was late when she did awake, the sun nearly overhead. She hadn't even remembered falling asleep, but she instantly noticed the lack of a body next to her on the sofa. She panicked a little at first. Had Tony run off again? But then she noticed that Rhodey wasn't there either. She rummaged down the back of the cushions for her phone and checked her messages.

 _Rhodey: We're on the roof, just getting some air._

She smiled in relied and typed back.

 _I'm coming up._

…

Rhodey and Tony were sat on the ledge, shoulder to shoulder, looking out over the city. They both glanced over their shoulders as Pepper approached, Rhodey with a soft smile, Tony's much briefer and not lingering.

"Bit cold up here isn't it?" She asked as she slipped her hand onto Tony's shoulder from behind. He wasn't entirely comfortable with the fact that both men had their legs hanging above a 50 storey drop, but she supposed it hardly mattered when Tony could teleport them both back to safety if they fell.

"Well Rhodey wouldn't let me have a drink, so this was the next best thing."

Pepper smiled broadly hearing Tony's voice. It wasn't quite the same as normal, a little more dull and rough from exhaustion and emotion, but it was a surprise and a joy to hear him engage in some sort of small talk after a whole night of abject silence.

"Well that is probably for the best." She said with raised eyebrows. And settled with them both.

About 15minutes later Tony got a look of intense concentration on his face, which slowly furrowed into a frown.

"Tony what's wrong?" Rhodey asked.

"Something's happening."

Rhodey straightened, trying not to be too alarmed.

"What's happening Tony." Pepper said, face betraying the same worrying.

"Downstairs." Tony said levelly and both Pepper and Rhodey relaxed.

"We need to find a way for you to block this out Tony, it's not helping you." Pepper said softly.

"I'll go break it up." Rhodey nodded and pated Tony on the back.

"They're not arguing." Tony's frown deepened into confusion. "They're excited."

"Excited?"

"Yes. Something good has happened, but they're also worried…"

"Ok… Do you want to go find out?" Pepper offered.

"No, I want to stay here." Tony confirmed, which disappointed Pepper just a little. "Ok, Now they are arguing." Tony huffed.

"Can I go see what's going on?" Rhodey asked and Tony nodded.

…..

"Seriously?" Clint smiled. "What did I say!"

"Yes, Clint you're quite the clairvoyant." Natasha chided.

"The problem is, this information is only any good to Tony and well, I'm not sure telling him is the best thing…" Bruce started.

"Surely telling him that he was right all along will only help." Steve frowned.

"Not necessarily Steve. Confidence doesn't come back just like that, it might even make things worse."

"Then what should we do?" Gemma asked. "We haven't a clue about the machine he was building."

"Rhodey?" Clint tilted his head as the elevator doors opened.

"I'm glad something good has happened, but you guys are projecting again." Rhodey stated simply as he entered the room. "Now who's going to fill me in?"

"Tony knows?" Steve frowned.

"Tony knows you're all excited by something, and worried."

"He was right all along." Clint wasn't going to wait.

"What?" Rhodey asked.

"Tony's algorithm." Bruce explained.

"The other one was wrong." Clint exclaimed.

"Well technically that is not accurate." Gemma corrected him. "They were both correct but…"

"The other one was using a different number system to earth's, when Fitz had the theory and converted it over they matched exactly." Bruce interrupted before Gemma confused Rhodey too much.

Rhodey shook his head in disbelief. "So, we're up and running again…"

"In a way." Bruce nodded leaving the obvious unsaid.

"You need him don't you." Rhodey sighed, but it wasn't in anger of frustration, more of weariness.

"He is the only one who understands this damn machine. I could probably run the algorithm in his matrix to complete his map of predicted portal locations, if I can get Jarvis up and running and that is an If…"

"It's ok I think I can remember how we turned him off, so I should be able to do the same steps but backwards." Fitz confirmed. "Though I was quite tired at the time."

"Ok, that's great, so I can do that, but I don't even want to touch that machine." Bruce said raising his eyebrows.

"This is the portal closing machine, right?" Clint asked for clarification.

"Yes." Gemma nodded.

"OK." Rhodey nodded. "Get on with that. Buys us a few days at least." Rhodey pondered for a second. "Fitz, can you go through how you figured this out for me…"

….

"Pep? How is he?" Rhodey asked quietly over the phone.

"He went back to bed." She sighed exhaustedly.

"Again?" Rhodey sighed. "You with him?"

"No, he didn't say anything, but he shut me out the room." Pepper said sadly. "He wasn't tired, he just… He was better earlier on the roof, but now he's just withdrawn again, hasn't said a word since you left."

"I know he would hate the idea, but… we don't know how to deal with this Pep."

"We can't get a shrink in Rhodey. Even if we could somehow get him to accept it, what are we going to do, let him tell them that the world is about to end?"

"Yeah I suppose that is kind of a problem. But SHIELD surely must have someone on the books…"

"We haven't time Rhodes." Pepper huffed. "It will probably make him 10 times worse before it makes him any better."

"Well, I have some news that might help, it's just finding the right time to break it to him."

"What is it?" Pepper asked hopefully.

"That Kid Fitz is a damn angel." Rhodey smiled as he spoke. "He's being looking over Tony's algorithm till his eyes burnt out and he was convinced that Tony hadn't made a mistake."

"Well it's nice that someone has faith in him Rhodes but..."

"Pepper, not finished." Rhodey retook the reigns. "He is right. Tony was right. The alien bastards use a different number system, Fitz modified their algorithm and got them to match."

Pepper was silent for a moment.

"So, he was right all along?"

Rhodey frowned. Pepper's tone wasn't happy, relieved or surprised as he had expected it to be. It was annoyed, angry, downright pissed off.

"Yes, Pepper he…"

"So, all of this, the way he is feeling right now was completely pointless and unnecessary? He didn't have to go through his at all, because he was right all along?" Her tone started to grow harsher the longer she spoke.

"Pepper, I get that your angry about this, but this is not the way to look at it." Rhodey said firmly. "Yes, none of this should have happened, but it has. This might actually help us drag him out of it, but I need your help in deciding when and how we break this to him."

"Well not until he wakes up obviously." Pepper's voice returned to its usual even tone and Rhodey could imagine the number of deep breathes it had taken to regain her composure. "I'll see how he is then, but maybe Fitz should be the one to talk to him."

"You sure he's up to seeing other's?" Rhodey asked doubtingly.

"No, but you said Fitz had faith in him, right? Tony is picking up on emotions through the CAEB, maybe being in close proximity to that would help the most."

"I think that's our best bet." Rhodey agreed. "I'll talk to Fitz and then come back up. See if I can't drag his ass out of bed."

"Thank you, Rhodes."

….

"Tony?" Pepper gently took the broken billionaire's attention away from the spot on the floor he'd been staring at intensely for the last few hours.

Rhodey had coaxed Tony out of bed and onto the sofa just an hour after he'd closed himself off. The airman was adamant that leaving him to his own head right now was the worst thing they could do and Pepper could only agree.

They'd put on a film and sat with him, but he hadn't been watching it and honestly neither had they. It was getting harder and harder to see him like this, especially after that morning. He'd finally seemed a bit brighter, and Pepper had let herself hope, they'd talked about what was bothering him… she didn't know what to do. She could try and get him to talk again, but what would saying the same things achieve? They weren't going to magically convince him to have some self-belief.

So, for now they just sat with him as he ignored the room around him. And it wasn't his usual distractedness when his mind was working overdrive, he just looked empty. Things weren't going to get any better without some sort of action, and Pepper decided now was as good a time as any to approach Fitz's discovery as any.

"Are you ok if Bruce comes up?" She looked at Rhodey and nodded.

Tony looked at her despondently. "I don't know."

"He and Fitz have something to tell you."

"Ominous." Tony frowned.

"It's not Tony, it really isn't."

"If it's what they were all so excited about this morning can't you just tell me now?"

"You need to hear it from them."

"Fine." Tony conceded, but it was without animosity. In fact, it was without any emotion whatsoever. He just sounded done.

"Do you need some time to get ready, or…"

"What do you want me to do, put on a suit?" Tony snapped and they both looked at him in shock. Well, at least he was speaking to them now, Rhodey thought to himself.

"Sorry…" Tony sighed. "I didn't mean… Whatever, just get this over with."

"Tony Hunny, talk to me, please." Pepper implored him, but he just looked at her blankly. "Something's wrong, you've barely said a word since this morning. I mean, you don't have to tell us if you don't want to…"

"Oh God, will you stop!" Tony exploded. "That, that right there that's exactly what's wrong! Will you stop goddamn tip-toeing around me like you're going to wake the baby. I'm not a child and yes, I know I'm fucked up to the eyeballs, but I'm not going to shatter if you ask me a direct question!"

They both stared, taken aback as Tony's breathing slowly evened out.

"Tony we…" Rhodey started. "We're just worried and we don't want to pressure you into anything."

"I know." Tony breathed. "I know you are trying to help, but you keep asking me do I want to do this, do I want to do that am I ok with this… and I don't fucking know, Ok? I don't know what I _want_ or how I feel, because I don't fucking feel anything. I don't want to do anything, I don't care about anything, I can't make a decision, it's just gone…" Tony trailed off raking his hands through his hair with a slight tremor in his arms.

Pepper took his arms, moving them away and calmly pulled him into a hug, staying silent while he calmed himself.

"Can you feel that?" She said softly, and Tony sighed.

"Yes Pep, I can feel that." He mumbled.

"Good, then just focus on that for now." She soothed. "This feeling you have, or lack of them, is this why you wanted me to tell you what to do?"

"Yes." He admitted.

"Tony, for now would it help you in we both did that?"

"Well put it this way, if you're going to keep asking me things I'll just turn them down and stay in bed. I know I should be at least trying to do something, but I just can't."

"That's…" Rhodey started and then quickly changed his phrasing. "We can do that."

"Ok, so we go find Bruce and Fitz now."

"Dr. Banner and Mr. Fitz are in the lab." The voice from the ceiling rumbled into life for the first time in days. It was a welcome sound. The tower had been too quiet and felt very empty without their friendly neighbourhood AI.

"Hey J, when did you get back?" Tony said, a faint tone of fond surprise crept into his voice and made Pepper smile.

"Despite your efforts to disable me Leo was able to reactivate me throughout the tower."

"Leo?" Tony said eyebrows raising, glaring at the ceiling in disbelief.

"Mr. Fitz."

"Yes, but Leo? Seriously!"

"Ooh he's pissed at you." Rhodey chuckleled.

"He's a computer he can't get pissed."

"On the contrary, you programmed me to develop an appreciation of human emotions, so I am perfectly capable of expressing my aggravation."

"Well I didn't program you to be a passive-aggressive douche."

"I learn through observation."

Rhodey couldn't help himself, he burst out laughing at the AI's sassy comment.

"You are an absolute…" Tony yelled and reached for something heavy to throw, but Rhodey snatched him away quicky.

"Ok, ok let's go down and see Bruce." Rhodey grabbed Tony's arm and pulled him gently towards the door.

Well, at least Tony seemed to be feeling something…

…..

"Bruce, Fitz." Tony entered the room trying to look somewhat together, but he doubted he was doing a good job.

Bruce looked him up and down with a mixture of happiness and concern. The number of emotions running around the room was stifling and Tony felt his anxiety building. Suddenly he felt Rhodey's hand on his shoulder, anchoring him.

' _Are you ok?'_

Rhodey had asked Tony to set up the link before they went in, in case he got overwhelmed Rhodey would be able to get him out.

' _Fine.'_ He reassured.

Rhodey patted him on the shoulder and Tony looked back to the others. "I hear you have news." Tony perched on the edge of the workbench and folded his arms across his chest expectantly.

Bruce gave Fitz and encouraging elbow and the young man stepped forward nervously. The nervousness, bordering on panic, rolling from Fitz in waves made Tony's stomach flip nauseatingly .

' _Tony, focus on me.'_

Tony breathed deeply, latching onto the calm and composure Rhodey was projecting and it helped him pull himself away from Fitz's nerves.

' _Thank you, Rhodes.'_

"Well… I was looking for mistakes in your algorithm."

' _Breathe.'_ Rhodey reminded him and Tony realised he'd not taken a breath in some time and his lungs were starting to burn. For Fuck's sake why was just talking to his friends so hard. _'You're doing fine.'_

"… and well, quite simply I couldn't find any and I was certain that right."

"That's nice Fitz but it doesn't match." Tony reminded him a little curtly.

"But it does." He said in protest.

Tony cocked his head to the side. "I'm sorry what?"

"We were having a philosophical discussion at breakfast about what it would mean if 1+1 was not equal to 2…" Bruce chipped in.

"And then I thought what if they weren't using the same number system as we use." Tony sat up straighter in interest. "I mean the variables match apart from the coefficients and extra two…"

"Show me." Tony demanded, cutting him off.

Fitz handed over the paper excitedly and Tony scanned through the calculations quickly. It was hard at first, his mind still felt sluggish and detached but as the numbers clicked into place it felt like there was a weight slowly lifting.

"Have you tried it, does it work?"

"Fitz and I are putting it into the matrix you made, Jarvis is still computing, we'll know in a few hours, but Fitz already put in the positions for the portals we know of…"

"I've done 6 already and they've all matched. It's looking good."

Tony took a deep shuddering breath and frowned. "Thank you, guys. Really, this is great." And it was, but Tony could feel something unravelling, he felt weak.

' _Tony, come to me.'_ Rhodey had sensed Tony's growing unease and knew it was time to get him away, give him chance to process.

Tony glanced over his shoulder and Rhodey already had the door open. Tony nodded and walked towards him without thinking of the others in the room.

As Rhodey shepherded Tony out of the door, he lingered, mouthing a thank you to the two people in the room.

…

Tony lay on his back staring at the ceiling. Rhodey had told him to go to bed, get a normal 8 hours sleep, wake up at a normal time, but it had been 5 hours and he knew sleep was going to elude him. He felt wrong. His mind that was usually never resting was as empty a student bank account. It was quiet, he didn't think it ever had been before and it should be buzzing.

The algorithm was right, it was working, it should make him feel better, but it didn't. All of this freak out, not only was it for nothing, but it had wasted so much time and even know, knowing it had been fine all along nothing had changed. HE still felt like a failure, he still felt like he was broken and he was. He should be running calculations right now. He should have run down to the lab the second he learned that they had a functioning algorithm, but not a single idea came into his head. He just didn't want to work, despite what was at stake he just didn't care.

He'd left the lab and for some reason he didn't quite understand he'd just broken down and sobbed, for the second time in not many more days. It was pathetic, he knew that, despite the way Rhodey had held him and tried to convince him it was ok he knew it wasn't.

He had to pull himself together. This was ridiculous. But he just didn't want to. What _did_ he even want? He had no answer for that. He didn't want to keep lying here, but he didn't want to do anything else.

What he wanted was everything to go back to normal, but that wasn't just going to magically happen either. He at least wanted the quiet in his head to go away. He liked busy. He needed busy. He didn't even feel attached to the CAEB anymore. He could still feel it, of course, it wasn't going anywhere but it felt as uninterested as he was in the world around him, so it was silent. Everything was silent.

So, what could he do about that? He sighed to himself in the darkness as a thought came to him. He really couldn't be bothered to get up but lying here wasn't going to do him any favours. It took all his will power just to sit up. Another 10 minutes spent gaining the courage to stand and gather his things.

Then he snuck out the door, past Rhodey sleeping on the couch and headed for the one place, the one he went to think, to feel normal, to escape.

…..

Rhodey opened his eyes as the early morning light bled through the windows. He had one hell of a crick in his neck from sleeping on the sofa, again, but Tony after his initial outburst had been exceedingly quiet again all night.

Speaking of Tony, the man suddenly burst out of his bedroom, heading for the door rapidly. Rhodey sat up quickly, blinking away the sleep from bleary eyes.

"Tony?"

"That's my name." Tony slowed a little and looked at his friend.

Rhodey frowned. "What are you doing? Why is your hair wet?"

"I went swimming and now I'm going down to the lab."

"Really?" Rhodey blinked. Tony looked a bit better, he still wasn't quite Tony, but he no longer looked like some sort of robot going through the motions. He was a man on a mission. The question was, was this sudden change a good thing? "Are you sure you're…" Rhodey proceeded cautiously but was cut off.

"Ready to pull my head out of my ass and get my shit together before the world ends? No not really, but I don't have a choice, do I?"

"Tony…" Rhodey implored, but Tony was having none of it.

"Don't Rhodes, just don't." Tony sighed. "I've been lying in bed sulking when the biggest threat this planet has faced is weeks away."

"Tony we've been over this…"

"If you say its ok one more time, I'm going to lose it." Tony yelled suddenly. "It's not Ok Rhodey, it's not acceptable that I couldn't get past my own fucking problems when the whole goddamn planet is on the brink of war!"

Tony didn't give Rhodey a chance to reply as he slammed the penthouse door. Shit. As soon as the door closed Rhodey picked up his phone and dialled Bruce, who much to his relief answered immediately.

"Tony's going down to the lab."

"What?" Bruce asked in shock. "Ermm, is this a good thing? Is he ok?"

"Ermm, that's debateable… No, not really but he's better in that he's actually functioning like some sort of human, but he's in a foul mood, on some sort of guilt fuelled mission and I need someone to keep an eye on him. In fact, I don't want him down there at all without supervision at least for a few weeks."

"He's not going to like that." Bruce chimed.

"Well tough shit." Rhodey grunted.

"I'm in the elevator. I'll be there in seconds." Bruce reassured him.

"Just watch yourself, he already bit my head off, try not to take it personally. Probably best not to try and talk to him, to be honest."

"Don't worry I've got it." Bruce chuckled and hung up.

…

 **Sorry if that felt a little rushed in terms of the writing. Probably the hardest chapter I've had to write yet and there are some bits I'm still not happy with, but if I didn't post it this damn story would never get finished.**

 **Next chapter isn't far off so see you all again soon.**

 **A/N: Thank you very much to my guest reviewers, I do read and love your reviews but obviously can't reply personally. Your support is hugely appreciated. And as for my guest reviewer who has been reviewing every chapter I definitely don't mind you commenting so much, I love it! So thank you.**


	34. Chapter 34- The Makluhk

**As promised another update not too long after the first, Ok, so it was a bit later than promised, but I got there in the end…I really need to work on shorter more regular chapters. This one ended up at 8k. oops.**

 **I skipped ahead a bit and planned out all the remaining chapters… and I actually have the final chapter pretty much written, so scary times guys.**

Previously.

 _The new implant has been helping Tony get a handle on his powers, but the progress comes with a big downside as he discovers he is feeling everyone else's emotions and finds it overwhelming._

 _With the algorithm hitting a dead end and nightmares of seeing the Avengers die, overwhelmed by the pressure, expectation and knowledge that he is going to fail he tries everything he can to change the fate of his team as he saw it in his premonitions._

 _This leads to him having a complete breakdown. Completely shattered, mentally physically and emotionally, Tony had no desire to carry on with his work and Pepper and Rhodey take him away from the others to try and help him put the pieces together._

 _Meanwhile, fuelled by his faith in the genius, Fitz discovers that Tony's algorithm was right all along, though the news doesn't help the engineer as much as Pepper and Rhodey had hoped._

 _Annoyed with his mental state and angry at the world, Tony manages to find the courage to go to the lab, though he is far from his normal self._

" _Bruce, there's something else… They are going to send another attack. A single creature by the sound of it, something called the Makluhk."_

" _A single one."_

" _It's a final test, they are confident, but they are not going to underestimate us."_

Chapter 34- The Makluhk

Natasha was sat calmly in her chair, and when she said _her_ chair, she meant it. She had claimed it during the week after the battle and when she had found Clint sat there a few weeks post hence, she grabbed him by the arm and threatened to dislocate it when he refused to move. The only person who even dared sit in said chair was Bruce, which she for some reason she had never objected to.

She was looking through a newspaper and trying not to get aggravated by the absolute rubbish that was classed as news nowadays.  
Of course there had been some asshole paparazzi who had spotted their little movie outing and noted Tony's absence. They were spilling conjecture that they had a falling out with the billionaire and that the Avengers team was in tatters. She sighed. It wouldn't bother Tony, she knew that, and it didn't bother her particularly either. The press were the press and that's how they'd always been, especially with Stark. He'd had many run ins with them before yet never once filed a slander lawsuit, no matter what they said about him. He preferred to make them look like fools. But she also knew that Steve took this stuff to heart, so she made a note to throw it out once she'd finished so the Captain didn't stumble on it later. They all had enough to worry about right now and the fact that Fury was going to inform the president of the situation today made it all very real.

Steve was hugely concerned about Fury outing Tony as an enhanced, more than he was of the president being dismissive of the situation and halting their plans, but Natasha had convinced him to trust her Boss. She was still pissed with Fury, sure she was, but he wasn't completely stupid, and he didn't have a vendetta against Stark, no matter how it may appear.

She sighed as she moved and felt a stab of pain. Her whole body ached from training. She'd been in there 4 hours a day for nearly 2 weeks and her spar with Clint had been harder than she had expected. He'd certainly been no push over and Tony had done a better job on his back than she'd calculated. He wasn't far off full strength and he'd certainly been in the field before in a weaker state. Steve had, had no choice but to clear him for field work and she had no reason to be worried about his stubborn ass any more so that was a weight off her shoulders.

Nonetheless she'd decided it was time for a day off. She was wiped.

She turned the page and a blaring alarm rang through the room. Red lights flashed, and she pulled out a gun from underneath the table and fumbled for the nearest Stark device to see what had triggered the alarm. She didn't even need to unlock it, Tony's voice came through loud and clear in her head.

 _'Battle stations, we have portal activity.'_

 _'Stark, where?'_ Steve was straight on the line. It was great to hear Tony's voice. They knew he had been back in the lab over the last few days, under strict and constant supervision from Pepper, Rhodey or Bruce, but they hadn't really heard from him or seen him. Apparently, he was doing better, but still fragile and that worried Steve. Tony had, despite everything he'd been through since New York, always bounced back fairly quickly. This time however it was like the elastic had stretched too far and wouldn't go back to how it was before. He hoped to God it would with time and help, but he was hardly going to get time to recover with everything going on.

And now there was a goddamn portal. And according to Tony's little astral trip, they'd been promised a final test from the interdimensional lunatics he so desperately wanted to see put down.

' _Hell's kitchen. Evacuation underway.'_

' _Anything more specific?'_ Natasha asked.

' _Not yet, narrowing it down_.' Tony grunted, in his 'don't you think I'd have said otherwise' tone.

' _Is this the cave assholes again?'_ Clint said bluntly.

' _Well they did promise another test.'_ Bruce grumbled.

' _Yes, what was it, the Makluz?'_ Steve asked.

' _Makluhk.'_ Tony confirmed bluntly.

' _What are we dealing with Stark?'_ Steve tentatively pried for more information.

' _You know as much as I do! Get on the jet I'll meet you on the ground.'_

Steve winced at the sharpness in Tony's tone. It was a pretty standard manner for the quippy engineer, but with the constant concern for the billionaire biting at his insides Steve knew he was being hypersensitive to Tony's mood. He wanted to ask Tony if he was sure he was ready to be out in the field, but he knew the reaction he'd get. Someone would be with him in the lab right now, Pepper or Rhodey, and they'd have said something if he wasn't ready. Then again, how could they stop him if he had disagreed?

' _What about the location?'_ Natasha asked.

' _I tell you when I know, but I have a feeling I'll be able to find it faster than the computers.'_

' _Wait, it's not open yet?'_

' _No, there's just some movement in the space time fabric around Hell's kitchen, but I'm getting a south sort a vibe.'_

' _A south sort of vibe?'_ Steve said doubtingly.

' _Work with me and we might pinpoint this thing before it opens for a change. Now are you guy's in the jet, cause I'm in the air already.'_

' _Wheels up in 5. See you there Stark._ '

…..

Tony came down on west 49th. He was getting a strong feeling of unease around this spot, but maybe it was a bit weaker than it had been up over on 47th and 9th? It was hard to quantify how strong a goddamn vibe was and if there was one thing he hated it was the un-quantifiable. He should head back that way, he decided, looking to the North, see if he could pick up the hot spot.

But then an alarm went off in his HUD. The portal was already open and the location displayed in his field of vision.

'Guys, its showtime on 43rd and 10th.'

'Touchdown in 2 minutes.' Steve informed him.

Tony would be there first. He moved to take off before he noticed there was something off with his helmet acoustics.

"Jarvis will you cut that static!"

"Sir, all systems are functioning normally"

"What?" Tony said loudly, the buzzing in his ears drowning out the sound of his ultra-helpful AI.

"There are no foreign audio frequencies sir."

"Then what's that fricking sound that's giving me a headache." Tony grunted.

Suddenly the sound intensified immeasurably. Pain shot through his skull and he feel to his knees with a yelp. He felt the communication line go dead, the pain was too much to hold it, it was like the CAEB was trying to retreat into the back of his skull. He felt weak.

"Jarvis." He grunted. "Get word to Bruce that we are reverting to conventional comms."

He didn't hear any reply, but he assumed there had been one; the noise in his skull was just too loud.

….

The jet touched down and the four other avengers piled into the street and stood staring at the portal in front of them.

"Well, that's check on the portal." Steve sad jovially as he gazed at the fluctuating blue hole in the universe that was situated in the dead centre of the intersection. He knew nothing of the theories that made this possible, but that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate its terrifying beauty.

"Don't stare too hard Steve, it gives you a serious headache. Trust me." Clint grunted.

' _Where are you Stark?_ ' Steve thought, but it felt different. He couldn't explain it, but it felt like it wasn't getting through.

"Message from Tony." Bruce yelled from the Quinjet ramp. He tossed out earpieces out to Steve and Natasha who were in reach. "Apparently we are on conventional comms."

"What's wrong?" Steve asked in concern, his heart suddenly beating harder at the sight of the worry on Bruce's face. It was a nearly permanent feature lately, and with Tony only just back on the field and only questionably stable, he was dreading what may be wrong with the billionaire.

"I'm not sure. Jarvis is experiencing some technical difficulties. I'll find out." Bruce waved his hand dismissively and retreated up the Quinjet ramp, but Steve didn't buy it. Something was wrong. "In the meantime…" Bruce pointed behind them. "Portal, deal with it!"

Bruce was worried about the engineer. Granted they hadn't used Tony's psychic communication system very many times, but they had never had an issue. He could well be having another panic attack, but he needed the others to be focused, if they started wading in they would likely only make things worse for Tony or get themselves killed by being distracted.

"So, what do we do, stand here and wait for something to come through?" Clint asked.

"Clint, take the high ground, give us eyes on the city. Thor, go around the back, I'm guessing they can cross over from either side." Steve started dishing out the orders and they quickly forgot about the missing engineer.

"Can't Thor give me a lift first? Since Tony's nowhere to be found by the time I've climbed all those stairs I'll have missed all the damn action."

Steve nodded, and Thor grabbed the archer.

With Clint deposited on the roof of a 5-storey building Thor returned to the other side of the portal.

"Stark, where you at?" Clint was watching the skies and scanning the streets but there was no sign of the red and gold armour.

There was a little bit of static over the line and what sounded like Tony mumbling.

"Stark?" Steve asked, a concern and confusion biting in his tone.

"5 minutes guys." Tony's voice was very even, but there was clearly something wrong.

"Tony." Bruce opened up a private communication channel. "Panic attack?"

"No, Bruce it's fine."

"Tony what's going on?"

"Is the implant ok?" Tony asked, unable to conceal a grimace form his voice at the ringing in his ears.

There was a pause as Bruce looked up the figure. "It looks normal to me. CAEB signature… is raised. "He said slowly. "But not alarmingly… should I be worried?" Bruce was worried, there was no point in asking.

"No, if the implant is fine then I must have a helmet malfunction." Tony frowned. Was this not the CAEB? He really didn't care at this point he just wanted the noise to stop. "Feedback giving me a headache." Tony grunted in explanation. "New one is 3 minutes out, then I'll join you."

"Ok." Bruce nodded, a small weight lifting but still not utterly relaxed he opened the communication line up again. "Tony has a helmet malfunction, replacement is inbound."

"Thank you, Bruce." Steve nodded. Steve momentarily questioned such a simple solution, and the fact that Tony's tech was playing up, but stopped himself. They had a job to do and they needed to be focused.

"Can someone tell this Makluhk to hurry up. The waiting is killing me." Clint grunted.

"Well it would be ever so nice of it to wait till Tony's airborne again." Natasha reminded him.

"True."

….

Thor listened to his comrades talk while he paced at the other side of the portal, unable to see anyone other than Clint from this position.

Why hadn't the attack been immediate? If this creature was as powerful as the cave dwellers seemed to believe it was then why did they hold back?

Then it occurred to him. The portal had already been open when they had landed, and Stark hadn't been on the scene.

"Comrades, there is a strong possibility that the Makluhk crossed onto Earth before we arrived."

"What?" Steve asked.

"Why would they wait to attack? It makes no sense to give us time to organise our forces." Thor reasoned.

"Maybe." Steve nodded "Maybe we got lucky."

"Come on Steve, when do we get lucky?" Clint reminded him and then reconsidered. "Maybe they're so confident they want us fully prepared?"

"Well that's even more worrying." Steve rubbed his face in frustration.

"Bruce, scan for heat signatures." Natasha suggested.

"Already on it."

Thor's eyes narrowed. Something was here, the hairs standing up on the back of his neck told him so. Then there was the ethereal growl that erupted from his left.

Thor was knocked back as a creature shot out of an alleyway, teeth bared. He raised his arm to protect his face from the snapping jaws. Claws grazed his chest, cutting into his Armor, but not quite breaking through. As he hit the ground he kicked at the creature, howling as its teeth sunk into his forearm. Despite the strength of his kick, the creature was barely thrown away, giving Thor little time to regain its composure.

He scrambled to his feet, but the Makluhk was already charging at him again. He swung Mjolnir and hit it square in the head. The creature skidded sideways into a building with an anguished howl, but then crouched and pounced again.

Thor raised Mjolnir, thunder erupted in the air and lightning shot down from the heavens, hitting the creature and knocking it to the ground before it could reach him. An unearthly howl tore through the street as Thor staggered back, holding his throbbing arm he regained his breath while the creature regained its feet shakily.

It turned tail and ran, leaving Thor propped against a wall, a little shocked and in a growing amount of pain.

…..

"What was that?" Natasha asked hearing the roar from the other side of the portal. There were muffled noises as the Avengers slowly and cautiously advanced. Then lightning split across the sky.

"Thor?" Steve asked urgently, breaking quickly into a run, tying to gain sight of Thor. As he rounded the intersection he found the God, Armor damaged and bloody, cradling his arm.

"Thor, what happened?"

"We did not, as you say, 'get lucky' in the instance Captain. The beast was already here, and it ambushed me."

"Where'd it go?"

"To the east."

"Clint?" Natasha asked.

"I see it. Clint shot his grappler and shot onto the roof of the adjacent, slightly taller building and started running. "Hell, this thing is fast, must be going 60, heading south on 10th. We need Stark to keep up."

"He should be airborne any minute." Bruce confirmed.

"We need to hurry up, that thing could break the evac perimeter in seconds, but its zigzagging. It doesn't know where to go."

"Thor are you good?" Steve asked, when he noticed the God was still cradling his arm, with a frown on his face.

"The injuries are superficial." He ensured them, but neither Steve or Natasha were convinced. The God appeared to be in pain and not healing the way they would expect. He looked equally shocked by the wounds. "I would be wary; the beast is very strong indeed and it moves like lightning I command, but silently. Do not lose sight of it."

Steve put a firm hand on the God's shoulder. He as concerned. Thor looked shaken and his injury, no matter how much he denied its significance, they had not seen the God bleed like this before.

"Ok, Clint, what does this thing look like?"

"Oh man, you need to see it to believe it. Roughly, like a 15-20ft long hairless cheetah, with thick grey skin, its tail looks like it could send you flying through a concrete wall… Claws, teeth, the works…"

"Ok, try drive it back this way, keep it away from the evacuation borders. Do not get too close!"

"On it." There were there sound of a few explosions as Clint fired arrows into the street in front of the creature. It had the desired effect. The beast changed direction. "It's on 35th, No, it's turned again, heading northwards on 10th, back to you, so get ready."

"Thor, you stay and keep an eye on the portal, we don't want anything coming through." Steve told him. Yes, the God was their biggest hitter, but Steve was worried about that injury. Thor did not look himself. "Bruce, standby for code green, we may need some more firepower."

….

Tony wrenched the replacement helmet off his head, but the buzzing didn't stop. So, that theory was out the window, this wasn't his tech. And that was the worst thing that could be happening right now. His breathing started to spiral a little, so he sat down in the street. Ok, relax, this was probably just another bit of weird, badly timed CAEB shit that he'd have to deal with and it never helped when he fought it.

He closed his eyes and let the sound fill his mind. It wasn't so much static any more, the more he listened the more it seemed to clear, it was ringing sound, no… it was more than that. He couldn't quite place it, it was like his mind was trying to decipher something, but the signal kept getting stronger, then weaker… It was moving and fast, changing position in a scattered pattern. What the hell was this?

He focused on it again, eyes still closed. It was definitely getting closer now, approaching from the south.

With all the pain behind his eyes he hadn't noticed the growing feeling in his stomach, that now all too familiar feeling of imminent danger. Then a heard a growl.

He opened his eyes. Shit.

There was a creature at the end of the street and he recognised it all too well. It was the same as the creatures he'd seen tearing Steve apart. The same creatures terrorising the streets of New York.

This must be the Makluhk.

It was lean, beautifully so, just rippling muscle and protruding bone. It was so thin at the waist it was almost non-existent, yet its rib cage was over a metre deep, shoulders muscled like a rhino. Lean at the rear, a battering ram at the front. The base of its tail was as broad as its thighs at the point where it met its strong curved spine; it was sleek and unarmoured, but he had no doubt that it would snap him in half if he was swiped by it.

Its head was small, ovular and aerodynamic; sunken black eyes were positioned for maximum peripheral vision. A large set of canine teeth grew upwards from its lower jaw. They were at least 20cm long and a second set, half the length, sat just behind, growing downwards from the top jaw. The front of its mouth was a mess of smaller, sharp and pointed teeth. And of course, there were claws.

On closer glance there were two small limbs protruding from the lower chest, between the its front legs. These were thin and wiry compared with the rest of it but as it stepped forward, graceful in its caution, it flexed the smaller limbs and Tony could see that they ended in sharp curved talons.

It was a born predator. He couldn't have engineered a better specimen. It was Born to run. Born to kill.

He was so in awe of it, he forgot for a moment that he was in danger. He was the one it was about to kill. He knew the way it was coiled it was getting ready to attack and Tony was sat there, helmet off, exposed. And in this state, he wasn't even sure he could use his powers to defend himself.

Shit.

"Hey there." Tony smiled nervously. "Nice, evil, mutant… what even are you?"

Nice Tony, try talking a terrifying beast down by insulting it.

"Right, maybe we can just sit here at opposite ends of the street and leave each other alone?" Tony offered nervously. "I won't bother you and you don't bother me?"

The Makluhk started charging.

"Or maybe not."

Crap.

….

"We've lost it!" Natasha confirmed, looking round the street corner to find no sign of the creature

"Stark, you got eyes on this thing?"

"Found it." Clint yelled, he ran across the roof as fast as his legs would carry him. "Its heading south on 9th avenue!" Clint sped up, pushing on hard through his last few strides as he reached the edge of the roof.

"On it." Natasha yelled. "Bruce, where's Stark?"

"He had the helmet drop, but I've not heard. I'll check the transponder in his suit."

Clint skidded to a sudden halt, panting. What the hell was he doing? He stared at the edge of the building and down at the street below. He could jump that in his sleep, but his body had said no and shit that was high.

Come on, he could do this. The gap was barely three meters, child's play, but his subconscious mind was overriding his control over his limbs. He stared down at the concrete 20 storey's down and tried to slow his breathing. Ok, just a bit of first day back nerves. He looked around and just caught sight of the beast's tail disappearing around the corner.

"The creature just turned onto west 39th, it was charging at something… I've lost sight of it."#

There was a beat of stunned silence on the comms.

"Tony's on West 39th." Bruce said quietly.

"What!" Steve retorted.

"His transponder, he's not moving!" Panic crept into Bruce's voice.

"Clint how far away are you?"

Clint took a shaky breath, moving three steps backwards. He looked at the ledge and tried to run, but he was stuck, frozen to the spot.

"Clint!"

"I can't make it." Clint gasped out, his hands were shaking.

"Tony talk to me!" Bruce urged, panic rising his throat.

There was no answer, Shit.

"Thor, forget the portal get to west 39th now."

"Yes Captain." Thor grunted. He took off instantly, Mjolnir sending him screeching over the buildings.

"Pull yourself together!" Barton yelled at himself. Tony needed back up and now. He took another few steps back and ran. Don't think, just do. He reached the edge of the building and he jumped.

….

Thor landed with a thud of crushed concrete. He was positioned directly behind the creature and could see the helmetless Stark 20 meters further down the street. The beast was between him and the man of Iron. Thor didn't hesitate.

"Move Stark!" Thor yelled, raising Mjolnir and lightning crackled across the sky.

"STOP!" Tony yelled.

The sky went quiet. Thor blinked in confusion. Then Thor realised, the creature was only feet from Stark, but it was neither moving nor attacking him.

"Stark?"

' _Shhh. Be quiet.'_ Tony's voice was inside his head.

Suddenly Steve appeared from 9th avenue and seemed to receive the same silent communication as he stopped dead, looking at Thor in confusion. When Natasha arrived the pair of them just shrugged.

"What's going on?" Bruce came over comms.

"I have no idea."

Clint reached the top of a building on west 39th, bow drawn but looked down in confusion at the scene below.

"Is Tony ok?" Bruce asked desperately

"If you call 5ft away from a killing machine ok, then yes." Clint retorted.

"What the hell is going on?" Bruce asked anxiously.

"Tony is trying to be a fricking Dr. Doolittle. He's backing the creature down."

"What?"

…..

The noise... The closer the charging Makluhk came the more strongly he felt it. It was resonating. Half of Tony's mind was screaming at him to run, but the stronger half was curious. So, he stayed, rooted to the spot. In truth he wasn't sure he could move if he had wanted to. He felt like his skull was going to explode, but the more he relaxed against the sound battering his ears the easier it became to bear.

The Makluhk slowed down suddenly, coming to a gentle halt just a few feet away. It shared Tony's aura of curiosity and sniffed the air cautiously, side stepping around the strange metal man.

It wasn't just a noise, Tony realised. It sounded like an un-intelligible chatter, millions of voices inside the Makluhk's mind. Widening his senses, he could feel the signals pulsating through the air, their path was clear. They were filtering through the portal, all bound for the Makluhk, but they were so close to the CAEB's frequency… he could feel the similarity, but the signals where fighting each other. That's why his head was pounding.

The Makluhk was part of a hive mind. He realised as the signals slowly became clearer in his head. It was communicating with the rest of its species, the rest of the army that would be coming their way all too soon. But more importantly, something about this signal wasn't natural. There was a stronger sound, overbearing, wound into the hive but not a part of it. It was this part that was clashing with the CAEB and now he was certain, there was someone tapping these creatures' natural telepathic link to control them. And whoever was controlling the signal would be seeing everything the creature saw…

Kairon.

It had to be. And the message was clear. KILL!

Then lightning crackled across the sky, snapping Tony's thought away from the creature, which turned a little to look at Thor, stood at the end of the street. The thunder God was going to try and kill it and he felt the creature's orders and instincts overriding the brief connection Tony had manged to create.

It was going to attack Thor.

"STOP!" Tony yelled, but the message went far further than the audible. The CAEB reached out and the Makluhk was suddenly drawn back towards him. The sky grew clear again.

The Makluhk was scared. An anxiety biting at its insides. It was separation. They were pack animals, social, used to being close and connected to its pack members. Tony could feel how far away its counterparts were, the other side of the portal, the other dimension. It was getting distressed and there was a constant order to attack, to kill, to destroy. But it wasn't sure why.

"Stark?"

' _Shhh, be quiet.'_ He urged Thor. He had to keep them all relaxed, or they were going to evil mutant rhino-cheetah hybrid food.

' _Everybody stay still and shut up.'_ He knew that had gone out to the whole team, he only hoped they listened because they weren't his focus now. He poured all of attention to the killing machine that was mere feet and a tenuous sense of peace away from tearing his throat out.

Tony took a deep breath and tried to push a feeling of calm across the link. It was difficult, this creature was not human, and its mind worked so differently… It was primitive yet had a level of complexity far beyond the human brain and it was closed off to anything but the hive link. The contact was proving difficult for Tony to maintain.

The creature, that had moments ago been skittish and side stepping slowly in the street, grew still. Good. That was a start. But what if he could go one further? Could he cut off the signal? Hell, could he even mind-control the thing like he had those guards at the compound, send it home?

He started to reach for the link, the controlling force; It was so strange, an intangible strand in a complex, web-like network. If he could just get a hold of it…

Shit, No, he couldn't… If Kairon or one of those other interdimensional bastards were watching he couldn't let them know about the CAEB. That was the thing they were afraid of, if they knew he wasn't on Asgard, then they'd make preparations. It would make them unbeatable, if they weren't already…

What if they'd already seen? Suddenly he was back there, the taloned hand wrapped around his throat, the air cut off, skin torn from his neck. His stomach lurched in panic and reverberated through the link.

Shit.

The Makluhk roared and surged at him. Pain ripped through him. He screamed.

…..

Thor had no idea what the Man of Iron was doing, or why the creature wasn't attacking, but he seemed to somehow have the creature under control. But Thor was finding it hard to keep his concentration, the pain of the creature's bite was ripping through his arm. This injury was bothersome and worrisome in equal measures. These creatures would be able to fell Asgardian warriors, and the Avengers of Earth would stand little chance against them if they were caught alone and off-guard. These Makluhk were truly fearsome.

"Thor?"

"I am fine Captain." Thor panted, and the God never panted. He rubbed his arm as he tried to stand straight. There was something wrong. He felt weak, the pain was spreading throughout his whole body, not just his arm. He looked down at the bite as the world started to spin, the veins around the wound were blackened.

"Venom." Thor wheezed quietly. His legs buckled.

"Woah Thor!" Steve turned and caught the demi-God under the arms, lowering him gently to the floor.

"Let me see." Natasha ordered, taking Thor's arm and pulling it towards. The God just grunted in pain and offered no resistance.

"It's vicious and spreading fast we need to get him out of here."

"I am fine Lady Natasha." Thor grunted, rubbing his temples as he tried not to show the agony that was ripping through him. "My body is fighting the effects, I believe they will be short lived. This poison is not a match for the Asgardian physiology."

"Bruce, get the jet in the air, we need extraction for Thor, now." Steve ignored the God's words.

"On my way."

"Guys!" Clint's voice screamed in anguish over the comms and roar rattled through the street. There was the sound of tearing metal before they could even look up. Tony had disappeared under the mass of grey muscle.

Steve started running, he flung his Shield, but before it could strike the creature there was the chatter of gunfire and a rush of air as the Quinjet rained down hell on the creature in the street. It crawled off Tony, who they could see instantly was moving and Steve sighed in relief. The billionaire was dragging himself along the ground, ducking as the creature's powerful tail whipped round, inches from his face. He looked in shock but ok and Steve thanked God for the tattered metal that had protected him.

Tony quickly gathered himself and fired a few repulsor blasts, but the creature had turned its attention to the Quinjet and it leapt. Flanks bloody from bullet holes, it covered the 40ft between the ground and the jet effortlessly, claws digging into the metal. The nose of the jet tipped downwards under the weight and started careering towards the ground.

"Holy Shit!" Bruce yelled as he fought for control, the Makluhk attacked the windshield of the cockpit, shattering the glass which showered in on the scientist. Then a streak of red, white and blue hit the thing at force and they both fell, cartwheeling to the ground.

Steve coughed hard as he slammed into the concrete, then white teeth descended on him. He jolted in surprise, rolling out of the way and grabbing his shield, holding it above him as the jaws thrust down again. The small round shield did nothing to prevent the creature's sharp claws tearing into him, sinking down into his chest. He cried out as blood soaked through the fabric. Shit, he should have been wearing Tony's new armour.

Three arrows came whizzing down from the top of a building, burrowing into the Makluhk's chest where its heart should be. The beast looked up and snarled at the archer on the building, allowing Steve the chance to crawl out, dragging himself along the concrete leaving a bloody streak behind.

"Well done Clint, you just pissed it off!" Natasha pulled out her pistols and kept firing, giving Steve some cover, but although the bullets were piercing the skin they were having about the same effect as it would stabbing Thor repeatedly with a syringe. It was just aggravating it. How the hell were they supposed to kill this thing?

"Well let's see how it likes this!" Clint yelled as the arrows detonated. The creature howled and was knocked to the floor. It lay still for a moment, screeching in pain, as Natasha helped Steve to his feet, pulling him into the shelter of a store entrance. She pressed hard into his wound and he grunted, just nodding to say he was ok.

"This has to be a Code Green right?" Bruce asked, as he brought the jet in for another attack, but the Makluhk was already back on its feet, a mass of burning flesh missing from its chest it streaked across the asphalt, heading back for the jet. Bruce pulled up sharply out of reach, bullets unable to touch it as it moved too quickly.

"Hold on Bruce, we're going to need immediate medical support. Jarvis says back up is coming." Natasha called out.

"Ok. If you're sure." Bruce said uncertainly.

With the Jet out of reach the Makluhk turned back to the archer on the roof. Looking up it lurched towards the building, talons digging into the brickwork it started to climb, ferociously clawing down the distance between the ground and the archer.

"Clint!" Natasha yelled.

"Shit! Code green, Code green I need help!" Clint turned tail and ran from the creature. It was moving too fast and he had nowhere to go. It crawled onto the ledge of the roof and roared fiercely.

Then a repulsor blast shot out from the sky above them as black and silver armour descended out of nowhere, smashing into the creature and knocking it back down to the ground. War machine. Clint smiled and took a breath in sheer relief.

Bruce's gunfire was on the Makluhk again in a moment, realising the code green was no longer necessary, and the War machine unleashed his full artillery on the creature. It howled and writhed, pounded into the ground unable to get up as it was battered by relentless fire. And then the sky blackened once more. Thor was standing shakily on his feet, hammer raised with one hand holding him up against the building. A lightning blast struck the creature and its howls intensified.

All of a sudden it grew still. Blood seeped out onto the ground and the smell of singed flesh filled the air. Thor grunted and slid down against the brick wall of the high rise, breathing heavily and clutching his arm. Steve grunted in relief and Natasha pressed harder on the wound. The bleeding was thankfully slowing, but Steve was looking pale.

"Three cheers for war machine." Clint whooped from the roof.

"Plan a better escape route next time Barton. You guys should have called me sooner!" Rhodey grunted. He'd just got back to the tower when Jarvis had told him of the emergency.

"Thank you, Rhodes." Steve breathed.

"We need medical evac immediately." Natasha hissed into the comms.

"Thor, Steve, can you walk?" Bruce asked as he brought the jet down.

"It's not so bad." Steve hissed.

"Bullshit." Natasha growled.

"I can get to the jet."

"As can I." Thor confirmed.

"What about the portal?" Clint asked. "It's still open."

"A SHIELD Team is on its way." Bruce confirmed.

"If another one of those things come through then they'll be slaughtered…"

Natasha started. But she was cut off by a distressed yelp from across the street.

"Tony!" Rhodey yelped. He rushed to his friend's side as Tony tried to sit him up. His armour was in tatters, torn to shreds. Half his side was exposed.

"Crap." Rhodey hissed. "What the hell happened!" Rhodey directed it at Natasha since she was the only one on the ground currently standing.

"-s not as bad as it looks." Tony grunted. "Suit took most of it."

"Then what has that scream all about." Rhodey grumbled, but Tony was right, there wasn't a whole lot of blood. There was a deep scratch on his jaw and neck, but it was clear from the state of his armour that he'd shielded his face with his arms. He couldn't see what was causing Tony so much pain.

"I don't know… Something… I Feel weird." Tony mumbled. He was sweating, breathing fast but in control, yet he was clocking out.

"Tony what's wrong?"

Tony didn't get a chance to reply. His breathing suddenly exploded, coming in short noisy gasps. Tony grunted and groaned with every breath. He pushed his head back into the floor, his back arched as he writhed in barely contained agony.

"Tony?" Rhodey asked desperately, getting to work at stripping the armour, but Tony's eyes went glassy.

"Rhodes?" Bruce ran up to him, having got the jet down safely.

"Bruce, give me a hand."

Bruce got stuck in helping clear the armour, then felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Steve, who was being half held by Natasha.

"What's wrong, what can I do?" Steve grunted as Tony was down to his undershirt.

"Get your stubborn ass on the jet and let me tend your wounds." Natasha ordered.

"Exactly that." Bruce grumbled. "But first, can you tear this off." Knowing that Steve needed to feel like he'd helped in some small way.

Steve grabbed Tony's scorched and tattered shirt and tore it down the centre, giving Bruce access to check Tony's injuries. It sent a burning pain across his chest, but it barely added to that he already felt, and paled in comparison to the pain Tony seemed to be in.

The first thing noticeable was a deep purple bruise across Tony's chest, which Bruce pressed on gently to check the ribs beneath.

"Get off." Tony cried out, reaching out blindly. He caught Steve by the wrist and clung on firmly. Steve's eyes betrayed the surprise at the strength of Tony's grip.

"Tony it's ok. It's just us." Steve coughed, trying to calm the billionaire, but Tony suddenly shoved the captain away, Steve fell back into a sitting position, clutching his chest in pain. Tony yanked Bruce, who had a loose grip on his arm as he moved to roll onto his side, growling in pain and fever.

"Let him roll!" Rhodey instructed. Natasha stepped back, but Steve had already recovered and taken hold of Tony's shoulder.

"No Steve, don't pin him on his back!" Rhodey warned.

Tony's hand snapped upwards grabbing Steve by the throat, he was half sat up, his weight held on a shaking arm. The captain immediately removed his hands from Tony's shoulders, but the billionaire didn't let go.

"Christ!" Steve choked out as Tony's grip momentarily tightened, cutting off the air.

"Tony, Tony it's me." Rhodey said softly but Tony didn't loosen his grip. "That's Steve Tony, you don't want to strangle Steve." He coaxed. Rhodey gently took Tony's wrist and tried to prise it away from Steve's neck, but the delirious engineer wouldn't let go.

The hand clamped down harder and Steve let out a strangled sound. Tony was panting, eyes wide and blue, but not all there, sweat covered his skin. Steve felt his vision going dark at the edges, he scrabbled with his hands, taking hold of Tony's wrist and trying to pull it away, but it only made the grip tighten.

"Somebody… do… something!" Steve spluttered. Then there was a thump. The grip released, and it was followed by the sound of metal clattering to the sidewalk.

Steve let himself fall backwards, coughing and gasping for air, Natasha was already with him, pinning him to the ground as he recovered.

"Jesus Christ Bruce!" Clint yelped from the roof.

The scientist had dropped a short piece of scaffolding pipe onto the ground and the bright red mark on Tony's temple confirmed that Bruce had used it to knock him out cold.

"He must have been bitten." Bruce growled. "We can't have him panicking, not with the CAEB and it will make the venom spread faster."

"What do we do?" Natasha asked, ready to step in and help the quivering but unconscious engineer.

"There's nothing I can do here. If it was a limb I could tie it off, restrict the blood flow..." Bruce said examining Tony's side where a deep and angry bite mark, bleeding slowly, could be seen above his hip. The black lines of venom where eking into his torso, spreading far faster than Thor's had, sweat covered his skin, his muscles twitching in reaction to the poison tearing through his veins.

Bruce looked round in panic. The jet wouldn't get them there fast enough, Thor was in no state to fly and they needed to get Steve out of there… though they had the equipment they needed to tend to him on the jet.

"It's spreading too quickly." Bruce said frantically. "I need to get him to Gemma, we need an antivenom If it reaches his heart, he's dead. Rhodey can you carry two people?"

"Easy."

"Great, get Tony and Thor to medical."

"I am fine Dr. Banner, Stark and the Captain should take precedence." Thor argued.

"Thor, your body is fighting the venom, we need your blood for the antivenom. Rhodey take them both, now!"

"Hang on Bruce, won't the CAEB take care of it?" Clint asked.

"Well I don't think that's worth the risk waiting around to find out." Bruce spat.

"I got you." Rhodey spoke softly as he lifted his friend over his shoulder, taking hold of Thor and checking they were both secure before he took off.

"Wait stop." Natasha instructed.

"What is it?" Bruce asked

"Look how fast its spreading!" She exclaimed. The lines had already spread half way across the engineers chest and moving faster than before.

"Shit there's no time!" Bruce keened. "It will take hours to synthesise and antivenom."

Rhodey put Tony down and kept supporting Thor.

"What do we do?" He asked anxiously, flipping up his helmet.

There was a sudden explosion behind and they all turned to see three, freshly exploded arrows jammed into the eye socket of the dead creature, with what remained if the Makluhk's brains, splattered all over the street and Clint's uniform.

The noise started Tony back into consciousness. He let out a pained groan and Rhodey gently tried to comfort him as tremors wracked his body.

"Clint what the hell!" Natasha growled.

"Just checking its really dead." He shrugged.

"Was that really necessary?" Steve hissed.

"Yes, it was, because I'm one for learning from my mistakes! You're all sat there, un-armed with your back to the killing machine! Last time we did that it got back up and started shooting at us."

No one said anything more, because the archer had a very good point.

They were snapped back to the engineer as Bruce swore loudly, rummaging frantically through the medical supplies and hastily loading a syringe.

"Tony can you hear me?" The engineer grunted and blinked in response, eyes flickering and strength fading. "Sit him up." Bruce ordered. "Vertically, it will slow down the blood flow."

Bruce slipped the needle into Tony's arm and unloaded its contents into his blood stream.

"Tony you have to fight, you hear me. Come on!" Bruce shook the billionaire as his eyelids threatened to close. "Stay awake!" He demanded.

"What was that Bruce?" Natasha asked.

"It's a long shot. A universal antivenom, works against about 30 varieties of poisonous snake but well, the Makluhk isn't from earth and the CAEB may end up screwing this up."

"How?" Clint asked frantically.

"It complicates things massively. If the CAEB identifies the antivenom as a threat, then it's going to make the situation worse."

"Like when Tony just got back, and he had that IV, suddenly he was in agony?" Clint remembered. His eyes flicked to the engineer who was fading fast. Tony's eyes slipped close and his trembling body started to lose its tension, the fight draining away.

"No, No come on." Rhodey shook his friend again but Tony had no strength left to fight with. The poison had spread nearly up to his collarbones, it must have reached his heart as Tony's skin as going a very unhealthy shade, bordering on grey as his breathing went from frantic to barely existent.

"If he stays like this much longer he's going to go into cardiac arrest." Bruce sad, voice shaky.

"Is it working?" Rhodey asked.

"Give it a minute!" Bruce yelled. He pressed his fingers to Tony's carotid and watched him anxiously. He covered his mouth with a shaking hand and pulled away.

"Bruce what is happening?" Rhodey demanded.

"There's nothing we can do, the antivenom isn't working." Bruce said shakily.

"No." Rhodey blurted out. "You have to be kidding me, No!"

"Rhodey…" Natasha started.

"Fucking do something!"

"There's nothing Rhodey!" Bruce yelled back. "There's nothing we can do." He slumped, his voice a whisper.

"There is." Clint moved forward and grabbed Tony by the jaw. "Hey! Tony. Hey!" He tapped Tony of the face lightly, his eyes opened momentarily before rolling back in his skull. "No, Tony, look at me!"

"Clint what are you doing?" Natasha asked.

"Tony!" Clint carried on regardless. It took a few attempts, but Tony's eyes met his and managed to stay open. "That's it." Clint encouraged.

"Clint?" Tony croaked, his voice barely there.

"That's me. No, you're not clocking out on me. You've been poisoned."

"That makes sense." Tony grunted, then cried out weakly. The only thing holding his head up was Clint's hold on him, shaking him every time the blackness threatened to take him.

"Yes, and you've got to save your own ass this time Tony. Come on, heal yourself."

"Can't." Tony hissed, his voice collapsing to a whisper. The black lines now showed at the base of his neck. They were losing him.

"Yes, you can, you healed me you healed Coulson. You can do this."

Tony groaned and gasped for air, his fists clenching and his back arching. Bruce knew he had seconds, the lines tickled at his jaw reaching for his face.

"Come on Stark!" Steve cried desperately, his voice cracking.

Tony cried out, but this time in effort. His eyes snapped open, glowing blue. Suddenly everyone was rising up, bodies, held tense, willing Tony to succeed. A matching blue light burned under the dark veins, fighting the venom that was causing him such agony.

Everyone sighed in relief as it started to retreat, the CAEB burning through the venom. But Tony didn't look like he was going to last much longer. The light grew dimmer. Blood streamed down his face and the fight was slowly seeping from his form and his tense body was now wracked with tremors.

"Clint, in the jet, concentrated glucose and an IV." Bruce ordered.

"On it." Clint scrambled to his feet and took off down the street.

He was back in under a minute and Bruce got the line in without a fuss. "Come on, Tony." He whispered in a prayer.

The CAEB took well to the IV and the light intensified. With a final weak grunt of effort, the light rose to a blinding intensity and then dimmed to nothing. The venom was gone, but the wounds weren't healed, and Tony lay limp on the floor. Bruce quickly checked his pulse and nodded in relief.

"Right, Rhodey, get him back to the tower now. Instruct medical to put him on a glucose IV. The rest of you on the jet." Bruce ordered.

Rhodey scooped Tony up gently. "Hold on Buddy." He flipped down the faceplate and took off.

Natasha and Bruce went to help Steve to his feet. He was barely able to take his own weight. Thor got up, the poison had already receded back towards the wound, but despite his will to walk he stumbled, Clint was there for him to lean on.

"Christ you're heavy." Clint strained under the weight of the demi God. "Want to swap?" He asked Natasha and Bruce.

"No, looks like you're doing just fine Clint." Bruce smirked.

"I apologise for being a burden." Thor grunted.

"Shut up Thor, you're fine. Clint here is just being a girl." Natasha glared at the archer.

"That's an insult to women." Steve chuckled and then winced. Natasha and Bruce paused for a moment, letting Steve compose himself before they started moving again.

Clint gasped. "Steve, now you! Is everyone in this team ganging up on me?"

"Suck it up Clint." Natasha smirked as the dragged their wounded back into the safety of the Quinjet.

…

 **Ahh, just another angsty near death chapter for you. I won't stop hurting them. And that was just one damn creature, how are they going to cope with an army?**

 **The big battle is getting closer now, just a few weeks to go their time… probably another 5 or so chapters for us, but we'll see. This story was never supposed to be his long so who knows how long it will continue for.**


	35. Chapter 35- Start the Countdown

**35 chapters. Damn. How did I get this far?**

 **Anyway, we're back again. It seems I'm on a roll at the moment.**

 **Too, many, characters! I can't keep track of them all! How the hell they managed infinity war I will never know. Cannot wait for part 2 of that btw, insanely excited even though we'll have to wait another 5 months or so. Trailer out tomorrow though eeekkkk.**

 **Anyway, my point is I've been a lazy writer in sending Thor off to Asgard at every opportunity to control the character numbers, so let's see what he's actually up to in Asgard this time round.**

Previously.

 _The new implant has been helping Tony get a handle on his powers, but the progress comes with a big downside as he discovers he is feeling everyone else's emotions and it is finding overwhelming._

 _With the algorithm hitting a dead end and nightmares of seeing his team mates die, he has a complete breakdown. Meanwhile, fuelled by his faith in the genius, Fitz discovers that Tony's algorithm was right all along, though the news doesn't help the engineer as much as Pepper and Rhodey had hoped._

 _With Tony back in the lab but far from himself, the final test as promised by Kairon arrives. A new portal opens, and the team face the Makluhk. Tony discovers they are part of a hive mind but his attempt to try and calm and control it backfires, proving nearly fatal as he receives a venomous bite. Thor and Steve are also seriously injured, and the team is left wondering how on earth they will defeat thousands of these creatures if it took all of them to kill one._

Chapter 35- Start the Countdown.

Steve woke up to his chest on fire and his head pounding in the harsh unfamiliar light. He looked around wearily, wondering where he was and how he'd got here. He remembered the battle and getting on the Quinjet, but nothing afterwards. He must have passed out. He sighed as he immediately realised that sitting up wasn't the best idea either. He can't have been here long, the pain was still very raw, and his super healing hadn't started to take care of the wound yet, so he'd been out a few hours at most. Then there was his throat. Tony had really done a number on him.

"I go away for a single day and the three of you end up in the med bay."

Steve looked around to see whose voice it was and smiled softly seeing the familiar face.

"How did you and Fury get on with the president, Coulson?" Steve croaked, voice hoarse

"Better than you all did against that alien." The agent huffed. "He took some convincing, he trusts SHIELD about as far as he can throw us, but he has approved our evacuation strategy and we have the full backing of the armed forces."

"That's good news." Steve grunted, but aborted his effort to sit up. "How is Thor, Stark?"

"Thor has… mostly recovered. Stark is … on his feet."

Steve frowned. Already? "How long have I been out?"

"4 hours."

"Is everyone on this team stubborn, self-deprecating…"

"Yes, you included." Coulson chuckled. "So, don't be a hypocrite and get some rest. I already have enough to deal with. We have a wounded demi God and an excessively stubborn billionaire to deal with and believe me, its more than we can cope with combined at the moment."

"Are they really ok?"

"Thor will be fine, he should still be resting, but he won't do any damage. Tony… No one knows what's going on with him, physically or mentally, but as usual, there is very little we can do about it."

"Ok, well, you know where I am if you need anything."

"I mean it Steve, you rest."

"I will, I will."

…..

2 hours back at the tower and a glucose IV later and Tony was back on his feet and furious. Much to the protest of, well everyone, he disappeared down to the lab almost instantly. Rhodey had gone with him but Tony's mood was frightening them all. Pepper had never seen him so angry and she wasn't even sure why. She wasn't even sure that he was sure why.

They were all shaken by this last challenge. This single creature had nearly killed them all and badly injured 3 of them. There was a strong sense of dread in the tower, which they could all feel, CAEB powers or not.

They were all gathered in the common room minus Steve, who was still resting in Med Bay and the duo of Tony and Rhodey, the latter of whom was keeping a 24/7 watch on the billionaire in the lab.

"I feel I must return to Asgard." Thor broke the silence.

"Again?" Clint asked. "You're backward and forwards from there every other week."

"He has an army to prepare Clint." Natasha berated. "And I'm pretty sure Asgard will need to know what they are facing."

"Are you sure you are up for the journey?" Bruce asked.

"I appreciate your concern Dr. Banner, but the travel will not be strenuous, and I am healing."

"Exactly how many Asgardians will stand with us?" Coulson asked.

"There are 2 million civilians on Asgard, we cannot leave the city undefended, but we will not only have the army of Asgard, but the armies of Vanaheim and Alfheim have offered their support."

"Why?" Clint asked. "Why are all these worlds coming to the defence of Earth?"

"The threat we face on Midgard is grave, not just to humanity, but to all the nine realms and beyond. Should earth be lost to these creatures, who knows where their conquest will end. We must stand together now, for if they get a foothold in this universe we are all doomed."

"Why do you sound like you know these creatures?" Bruce frowned. "You told us Asgard knew nothing."

"That is what my Father wishes me to believe, wishes all of us to believe, but by his fear alone I am certain he knows more than he will say."

"You didn't answer my question, how many?" Coulson asked.

"Combined I believe our force will approach 3 million souls."

The room blinked in stunned silence.

"How are we going to fit them all in the city?" Clint gawked.

"The population of New York is over 8 million Clint." Bruce reminded him.

"Yes, but they aren't all out on the street at once!" He protested.

"Nevertheless, we will need every man…"

"And woman."

"Especially the women." Coulson smiled. "My point is we will need all the help we can get if today's fight is anything to go by." Coulson finished.

"How long will Steve need to recover." Natasha asked.

"A week, maybe two…" Bruce said.

"Ok."

There was a sound of a throat being cleared and they all saw Gemma stood in the doorway.

"Hi Gemma." Nat smiled. "What you got?"

"I've been analysing the venom and Thor's blood and I have created an antivenom… I also think I will be able to create something that will help us to become immune… Vaccine is the wrong word, but it will act similarly."

"This is great News." Coulson smiled.

"Yes, but it's not fool proof. It will maybe protect you from one bite, two or three for Steve and Thor, but if not enough time is given for the venom to work out of your systems before a second bite…"

"How much time is enough time?" Nat asked.

"Hard to say, 10minutes for the supers, 40minute's to 1 hour for the rest of you, depending on your body mass and metabolism and the initial dosage..."

"Let's just not get bitten." Clint resolved.

"I also I don't have the facilities here to produce the antivenom in large enough quantities in the time frame we have."

"I'll go check on Tony later. He has contacts in Oscorp and U-Gin they might be able to help." Bruce offered.

"Speaking of…" Natasha probed.

Bruce rolled his eyes. "I'm going to focus on the positives in that he's walking, talking… well more shouting and working like a train, but he's not a nervous wreck, at least externally. Physically, he's nearly recovered from the venom debacle and mentally there's not much we can do but monitor and try and guide him away from doing anything stupid."

"Easier said than done." Clint said darkly.

"I know none of this is ideal, but as much as I'm desperate to, we don't have time to fix Tony right now, when this is all over we are all going to need some serious, serious therapy, but until then, Tony's right… we don't have time to rest. We've got a job to do and we just have to get on with it."

"Well on that grim note, let's get back to work." Natasha stood up and clapped her hands.

…

"Steve for God's sake just let it heal!" Natasha chided as Steve turned up to training the next morning.

"It will be better in a few days." Steve insisted.

"I thought Coulson gave you the pep talk and you agreed you were going to rest?" Clint crossed his arms disapprovingly.

"Honestly, I feel so much better already, and we hardly have the time to be sitting around."

"Maybe you will heal in a few days Steve, but you are not healed yet. We have 4 weeks until the battle and if yesterday taught us anything it's that we have to be at full strength and that means you being fully healed so go back to bed, you can barely stand!"

Steve opened his mouth to say something, but words failed him. Natasha was right. Clint was still gawping at Natasha's outburst when a fist to his face from Natasha snapped him back into the room.

"Ow!" He protested, holding his bloody nose. "What happened to being at full strength?"

Natasha sighed. "Come on, you are still losing power in your kicks."

Steve took his chance to leave. Maybe a few hours in bed would do him some good.

"Nat, what's wrong?" Clint frowned.

"We all nearly died yesterday Clint. We need to focus." She said levelly.

"Ok." Clint conceded. "I am taking this seriously I promise."

"I know." She sighed again, moving into fighting stance and throwing a punch which Clint blocked effortlessly.

"If you want to talk, you know where I am." Clint offered as he ducked out of the way of Natasha's kick.

"Noted." She grunted. She twisted out of the way as Clint punched forward. She grabbed his wrist and tried to flip him, but he'd anticipated the move and slipped her grip. "Now less talking more fighting."

"I'm pretty sure that's not the phrase."

"Shut up."

….

Tony had a plan of sorts. It wasn't written down of course, the more he crammed into his head right now the less ability he had to worry about anything else. And he couldn't lose it again.

Step 1: Make this goddamn machine work. That was the priority. He had the algorithm. If they could close the portals and they could contain the threat. If they couldn't… well that wasn't worth thinking about.

Step 2: Get those stubborn assholes to wear their armour! And improve it if possible.

Step 3: Make sure he could function with the infernal racquet that the Makluhk's hive mind brought with it. That was pretty damn important and if the recent battle was anything to go by, was going to be quite painful to achieve. Team overprotective were not going to approve, so he wouldn't mention it unless he was asked, or caught.

Step 4: Weapons for the team. Stronger, better, and lots of them. And a way to make sure they never ran out. They needed to even out the playing field and end this fight as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Step 5: CAEB control. He needed to find out everything he could do, and he meant everything. Anything he could do to get stronger needed to be done and he had some ideas based on the implant.

Step 6: Armour upgrades (he'd been tweaking things for a while, but really with everything else it had been on the backburner. And it still was largely that way. He had the CAEB, the other's took priority and well, he was probably going to die anyway.

Step 7: More soldiers. You can never have too many right? He'd been toying with the idea of Jarvis controlled drone suits for a while. Maybe this was the time to make that happen. If he could find the time that is.

He'd allotted each task a certain amount of time per day based on their importance. Working 18-20 hours a day, with 4 hours 'sleep' should keep team overprotective off his back. He was currently fully immersed in step 1, but a hovering presence in the room was aggravating him, even over the blaring music.

"Rhodey if you're just going to stand around can you do that somewhere else, its distracting." Tony grunted as he hammered something viciously into what looked like a pile of scrap.

"I'm not going to leave you down here alone in this mood."

"You don't need to babysit me!" Tony growled.

Rhodey knew that any argument of how obviously he did need supervision wouldn't serve to do anything but provoke the billionaire he went for a different tactic. "Well prove it." He offered.

"You are kidding me?"

"If you can take breaks reasonably and voluntarily over the next week I'll leave you alone."

"Whatever."

"Tony, talk to me, please." Rhodey pleaded. Tony hated hearing that tone of worry and desperation in his best friend's voice and it momentarily made the seething rage inside him calm. Now he just felt guilty. He didn't mean to upset Rhodey, but… he couldn't help it.

Tony took a breath. "Look, I know I'm being an ass, but this is what you get right now, this is all I can do." He said through gritted teeth.

"Anger isn't going to help you in the long run Tony, you know that."

"Well there is no long run for me is there?" He snapped.

Rhodey sighed. "Tony thinking like that…"

"Rhodey, you get angry Tony or broken Tony and we all know that me, like I was three days ago, is no use to anyone, so pick one."

"Fine." Rhodey conceded. "If that's what you can manage right now then fine."

"Can I get back to work now? Clock's ticking."

"Ok Tony, can I help with anything?"

"Yes actually, put that MIT degree to good use and reconnect that circuit board."

"Yes Sir." Rhodey mock saluted.

"Cut it out. You know I hate that shit."

….

"Father." Thor approached the Asgardian king wearily.

"My Son." Odin frowned as the younger God approached. "You do not look well."

"I am well enough Father."

"The Makluhk?"

"Are a formidable enemy." Thor conceded. "Were it not for the warriors of Midgard I believe I may well have perished in this fight."

"Your wound has not healed." The king frowned in concern.

"The creatures possess a venom that is incredibly potent."

"Have a sample given to our scientists and they will find an antidote." Odin ordered.

"The scientists of Midgard have already done so Father, our people have their tasks and Earth has theirs'. But it is time to begin readying the armies."

"You have intimate knowledge of the enemy now… you know their weaknesses?"

"We have been gifted the creature's carcass, so we can discover more."

"Very well. But you are not well my Son, go see the physician before you return to your duties."

"As you wish Father…" Thor paused, not heeding the implied dismissal of his king.

"What is it that troubles you, Thor?"

"Father I do not wish to accuse you, but the way you have talked of these creatures these past few weeks… I will ask you now, what more do you know of them?"

"I know no more than you." Odin said definitively, clearly expecting that t be the end of the matter.

"If you won't tell him Husband, I will." A much lighter, gentler voice could be heard from behind them as the Queen stepped into the Great hall.

"Frigga, I know not of what you speak." Odin feigned, proudly.

"What rubbish you speak when your pride is in question." Frigga rolled her eyes. "Come my son." She beckoned to Thor. "We have much to discuss."

…...

"Ok stop!"

Tony clawed himself off his knees for the 12th time in 20 minutes. He was getting better, but the sound of the Makluhk's hive signature was still as excruciating and debilitating as ever.

He stood up and shook himself, chugging another half carton of orange juice. "Right, Again."

"Sir I would strongly advise you rest…"

"Again." Tony insisted bitterly.

"I do not understand what you aim to achieve by this course of action."

"Well more fool you."

"Sir as my primary directive is to protect you I…"

"Override primary directive." Tony said simply.

"Sir!" Jarvis protested.

"Mute." Tony sighed. "Now again."

…

Tony woke 10 minutes later, his face pressed into the floor, wheezing desperately for air and choking on blood. He groaned at the pain exploding in his skull and slammed his fist into the floor as he clambered to his feet. He staggered over to the sink and rinsed the foul metallic taste out of his mouth. Months ago, hell days ago even, the fact that he was practically spewing up blood would have frightened the shit out of him, but now it hardly phased him. This was just something that needed to be done and he knew as long he wasn't completely stupid he would heal and that would be that.

He'd nearly had it. Just for a few seconds he'd managed to isolate the Makluhk's infernal noise enough for him to gain back control of the CAEB, but then everything had gone black. He had to master this now. If one Makluhk had rendered the CAEB nearly completely useless, then what was the point of going in to battle? His incapacity and complete idiocy in trying to control the damn thing and then panicking it, had nearly got his whole team killed. Thor and Steve's injuries, that was on him. He couldn't keep making mistakes like this.

He settled on the sofa for a while, lazily eating straight out of a jar of syrup until his strength returned. He'd gone through his supply of glucose solution last night practising shielding and going back up to get more would only put team overprotective on edge. He had to get stronger, finish his work on their machine and implement some serious weapons upgrades for everyone.

26 days. That was all they had.

"Again." Tony discarded the jar and jumped to his feet.

There was no protest from the muted AI as the noise started again.

The pain exploded in his head almost immediately and he tensed, wincing. No. He had to relax, let it in… Yes! The pain started to subside but the CAEB still winced away. Ok, now he needed to isolate the sound, shut it out and then… the pain disappeared. Just like that everything became clear in his head. He sighed with relief as the effort was lifted and he could feel the CAEB surging back with vengeance he'd not quite felt before.

"Jarvis, magnify the signal by 1000." He had to check he could cope… maybe 1000x was not the most conservative first step, but at this point Tony didn't care. He didn't have time for half measures.

As the signal increased all the glass in the room shattered, but Tony felt no change. He smiled wryly. "

"Got you." He grinned darkly. "Detonate mark 42." He instructed.

Jarvis didn't hesitate, nor could he object. The armour in the centre of the room self-destructed and Tony instantly raised his hand. His shield contained the explosion immediately, before the heat could even prickle into the room. With a simple squeeze of his fingers the shield condensed, squashing the explosion, this time without the backlash.

Perfection.

Tony barely had a moment to smile before an angry voice made him roll his eyes.

"Tony what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm busy Rhodey." Tony huffed.

"What happened in here?" Rhodey asked, but immediately realised he wasn't going to get an answer. "I thought we agreed that you weren't going to come down here by yourself?"

"No actually is was more like you ordered me to not come down here alone and I don't do orders." Tony turned around with a defiant look on his face.

"Are you bleeding?"

Tony grunted in annoyance at his mistake and answered truthfully. "No."

Rhodey folded his arms. "Then what's that on your face then?"

"You asked if I _am_ bleeding. Present tense."

"Oh, leave it Tony, just talk to me. What's going on?"

"I'm training ok, and I would prefer to do it in silence."

"Tony, if you are bleeding you are going at it too hard."

"Oh really? Well when the rest of them are up there beating the shit out of each other, bleeding all over the floor and you don't seem have a problem."

"Because none of them are on some sort of mission of self-destruction!"

Tony acted as if he'd not even heard Rhodey's response.

"I'm done here anyway, I'm going to go heal Steve and Clint." Tony shoulder barged Rhodey out of his path.

"Tony…" Rhodey started angrily.

"Just leave it Rhodey, I know what I am doing!" Tony clenched his fist angrily and the desk flung itself across the room as his eyes flashed blue.

"Tony…" Rhodey breathed in shock as Tony marched out of the room.

Tony was definitely not ok.

….

Tony could barely wait for the elevator doors to slide open before

"Tony?"

"Clint turn around." Tony ordered, and the archer stopped dead in his tracks.

"Ermmm, Why." Clint looked at the engineer hesitantly. Tony looked pissed, more than that, he looked determined and Clint couldn't remember having done anything recently prank wise…

"Actually, you don't need to, just stay still." Tony's eyes flashed blue and at first Clint didn't feel anything but then there was the familiar heat of healing and he gasped and clutched his back.

"I said stay still." Tony said calmly. Clint nodded and stood straight again. A few more seconds and Tony breathed out slowly, eyes returning to normal, he turned away without a word.

"Did you just?"

"Yes."

"But I thought you needed physical contact?" He asked in confusion.

"I'm getting stronger." Tony said, voice void of emotion and quite frankly his entire demeanour was making Clint uncomfortable.

"Tony are you ok?" Barton asked carefully.

"Fine." He said shortly.

Tony turned back to find Steve approaching them slowly, pain still etched in his face. "Hey Tony, what you up to?" Steve smiled, genuinely pleased to see the engineer.

"Tying up loose ends. Sit down." Tony said abruptly.

"Ok?" Steve did so gingerly, shooting a look at Clint, who just shrugged as if to say, 'don't ask me.'

"Tony, you can't do two people in a row, you'll pass out." The archer protested.

"What do you mean two in a row…" Steve looked down at his chest as the sensation hit him. "What the…"

"Stay still." Tony growled.

"Tony… What are you doing?" Natasha burst in, just before Tony had got the chance to finish. He growled quietly as his concentration lapsed through his annoyance and he looked at the red head with narrowed eyes.

"Fixing Steve and Clint." Tony said simply. "Or would have done, if I hadn't been distracted!"

"God almighty!" Steve lifted his shirt to look at the ground meat that had been his chest, but all he saw were a number of faint red lines.

"Your nose is bleeding." Natasha said, unamused throwing a tissue at him with deadly accuracy.

"It's fine." Tony rolled his eyes. The room was spinning a little, but he wasn't going to show it. IF they'd had just given him another 10 seconds this would have all been finished. Now he doubted they would let him complete the task with Steve at all.

"Tony what's going on?" Bruce stepped into the room face furrowed in concern.

"Nothing! If I can heal you all why shouldn't I?"

"Yeah, Tony that's great, but why is there glass and blood all over the lab?" Bruce asked calmly.

"Tony?" Steve said in shock.

"Just leave off, ok? You're always on my damn back!" The billionaire spat at Steve who looked back at him with shock and confusion. Where was all this coming from?

"Tony what's wrong?" Bruce asked patiently, ignoring his friends anger.

"What's wrong?" Tony bit his tongue and nodded, looking up at the ceiling in rage. Suddenly there was a flash of blue and a piece of the under-armour appeared in his hand, startling the room. "Next time wear your fucking armour!" He flung the thing at Steve and took a glaring look at the room. "All of you!"

Steve's face was a picture of confusion and shock as the room stared at him and the unexpected item in his hands.

"Tony…" Bruce started, but when he looked away from Steve the engineer was just gone. "Shit!"

"Teleported?" Clint asked.

"Must have." Bruce confirmed.

"What do we do about this?" Steve asked.

"I don't know Steve." Bruce looked defeated.

"Nothing." Natasha said.

"Nothing?" Clint looked at her in surprise.

"He's working, he's training, he's getting better with the CAEB. Yes, there is still something seriously wrong, but we push, and he might break again."

"It's not healthy." Steve frowned.

"No, it's not. But I suggest we put up with it."

"That's not going to be easy." Rhodey's voice broke through as he entered the room.

"He bite your head off to?" Clint smirked.

"Several times, and more concerningly threw a table across the room."

"What, threw threw, or CAEB threw?" Clint asked.

"The latter. Don't worry Steve you can trust him not to break anything important. I haven't seen him like this since he was a teenager, but however angry he gets he only ever endangers himself."

"That's not particularly comforting." Bruce frowned.

"Of course, he was an angry teen." Clint rolled his eyes.

"But he wasn't, was he?" Natasha said, more intuitively. "An angry teen, that is." She clarified.

"Only around Howard." Rhodey growled.

"He really hated his father, didn't he?" Steve asked sadly.

"It's rather more complicated than that Steve. You don't know what Howard became and I wouldn't go there, especially not with him." Rhodey said firmly, sadness and pity bleeding into his eyes.

"No, I really wouldn't." Bruce confirmed which earned him a confused look from the others in the room. "Not my story to tell, so don't even bother." Bruce held up his hands.

"He has a point though." Clint said suddenly.

"Who, Tony?" Bruce blinked.

"Yes, you should have been wearing that armour Steve and I bet you weren't either Nat."

"I know, I regretted it the moment that damn thing sunk its claws in." Steve sighed.

"Yes, ok you're right. He's right. It won't happen again." Natasha conceded.

"Good." Bruce smiled. "Because I put some of that stuff under the microscope and it blew my damn mind." The scientist babbled, but Clint's mind was elsewhere.

"So, if Howard's not here for him to be angry at, who is he angry at, me? Steve? All of us?" Clint asked.

"Most likely himself." Natasha scoffed.

"What has he got to blame himself for?" Steve asked incredulously.

"Something was off with the CAEB, wasn't there? Around the creature. He tried to go 'Dr. Dolittle' as Clint put it and it didn't work and then it went manic. Now he's going at the CAEB stuff like he's possessed, apparently with no self-regard… I think it's fairly obvious what he's trying to do." Natasha held up her hand in a flamboyant shrug.

"I'll try get to the bottom of it, but honestly I don't rate our chances. We have what, 4 weeks till this thing goes to shit? Me and Pepper will just make sure he gets there in one piece." Rhodey said sadly.

"It's not just on you Rhodes. We're all in this together."

"I appreciate that Captain." Rhodey sighed and then Natasha drew him in to an inescapable and sincere gaze.

It was clear to her how scared the airman was, how worried. She could read in his posture the feeling of helplessness, the tension in his shoulders betraying his stress and anxiety, but the most evident of all was the most difficult to interpret. It was that glint behind the eyes that shouted fear, but it was more than that. It was regret and grief and the feeling of not being able to escape the inevitable.

"We're not going to let you lose him." She said firmly. Tony Stark was getting through this. That was the only acceptable outcome and she was going to make sure of that if it killed her.

…..

After his conversation with his mother Thor finally had found himself a moment alone. He was stood on the balcony of the palace, overlooking the kingdom with a sadness weighing heavy in his heart.

He was shocked by the news Frigga had given him and his disappointment in his father had only grown since this whole CAEB debacle had begun.

He had always admired and respected Odin, especially in his youth. The stories his father had told he and Loki as children, the lessons taught in how to be a fair and just ruler, were as inspiring as they were entertaining. He remembered a time when he thought his father could do no wrong; when Odin was a strong, just, and infinitely wise king. A king who did not seek out war nor have any desire to inflict pain. Even after he returned from his first exile on earth, reborn with a humbleness and perspective his arrogant childlike self had lacked, he was still in awe of his father's wisdom. That had all begun to change when the CAEB had been discovered. He had seen a hatred and bitterness in his father, a fury that quite frankly frightened him. Thor wasn't sure whether it was his father's advancing years or Thor's own enhanced wisdom, but he could see the King's recent choices as being far from ideal.

He was now left wondering if he knew his father at all. Wondering what other dark secrets lay in the past of Odin, Son of Borr.

"My Prince." Thor turned to see the face of a friend he knew he could always rely on and smiled warmly as the golden armoured seer approached him.

"Heimdall it is good to see you." Thor greeted.

"And you my Prince." Heimdall Brought the Thunder God's attention back into the present.

"May I have a moment of your time?"

"Heimdall, you know you needn't ask. Thor smiled warmly.

"As you know I have kept a watch over Midgard and learned a great deal."

"And what do you think of our progress, our chances?"

"It is difficult to say my liege, but the prophecy is clear. All paths lead to the CAEB winning this battle. How, it is not clear, but we must have faith."

Thor sighed. "Why did my father keep these things from us Heimdall?"

"I will not speak ill of our King, even to you. But Odin has lived and ruled for many millennia, and done a great many things in that time, not all of which you would believe him capable." Heimdall sighed. "Given enough time good men will do great wrongs and no being will make the right choice on every occasion. Your time to take the throne is nearly upon us, and I have no doubt you will be a far finer King than your father."

"Once again I am indebted to your counsel Heimdall." Thor fidgeted with his bandaged arm, which did not go unnoticed by the watchmen.

"Does your wound trouble you?"

"The healers have done their work. In a few days I will not notice the affliction, but I interrupted you before… What was is you wanted to speak with me about?"

Heimdall seemed to pause. "You must keep a close watch on Tony Stark My Prince."

"Why?" Thor asked, many worrying scenarios cascading through his mind about the danger the CAEB might pose.

"You needn't worry about the CAEB, that is not the issue."

"Then what is?"

"I believe Stark has no intention of surviving the trial ahead. In fact, I think this has been his intention since the moment he learned of his purpose in things to come. His fate after he has fulfilled his role is not of consequence in the grand scheme, whether he lives or dies once he has defeated he enemy is not of import…"

"Heimdall, what are you saying?"

"I am saying my Prince that I have cause to worry that his current state of mind is leading him to be reckless and self-destructive, to a point where he may not see the battle if he continues to be so careless."

"I will monitor him closely." Thor said sadly. "It is neither just nor fair what Stark has had to endure in such a short life."

"It is not, and despite that he has dealt with it admirably. Fate is a cruel mistress."

"Is there any way he can be saved?"

"That, I believe is up to him. I know how you and your Midgardian friends care for him, I thought it best you know his intentions, so that you may at least try to convince him to find a course of action where he may live. But the odds are not in his favour."

"And should he survive... the CAEB, will it always be part of him? I do not believe it was ever his wish to have these powers."

"The CAEB cannot be separated from him. For the CAEB to die, he would have to die."

"Then I suppose the question is should we try to save him?"

"My liege?"

"It is not fair to force a man to live a life he hates. To cause him to suffer for our own selfishness. It should be his choice. If he decides to die, then we should let him go."

"Your words are very wise Thor and the sentiment is a good one, however Stark may be blinded to the possibility that he could learn to live with his powers given time to adjust. A human life is so fleeting, so precious, it must not be dismissed so lightly."

"I agree Heimdall and I was not dismissing Stark's life. It would pain me to see it die, but it would pain me equally if he was forced to live and suffer for it. In such a short time he has come to terms with the CAEB and used his mind to find ways of living with it, all I can do is coax him towards that realisation, that he may learn to live with as you said. Though there is little time to do so and he is the most stubborn of beings when it suits him."

"Then we must hope your words reach him in time."

….

"Tony, if I come in to get my handbag will you bite my head off." Pepper shouted from outside the bedroom door.

"You're safe as long as you don't plan on having a go at me for doing the right thing!"

Pepper sighed and bit her lip, putting on a smile as she entered the room.

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes the moment she entered. "Come on Pep, don't pretend you're not angry with me too, I can feel it remember?"

"You should be working on learning how to block that out." She said, not rising to it as she searched for her handbag.

"What you all dressed up for anyway?"

Pepper was wearing a stunningly modest, but form fitting ball gown. One shoulder strap and sleeveless, it was elegant and its simple lines and plain black material was a little too business like for Tony's taste. Still there wasn't really much she couldn't pull off and his and her ideas of fashion hardly lined up.

"Just another charity ball." She located the clutch purse in one of the wardrobes. "You're supposed to be there actually."

Tony's head perked up at that. "Maybe I will be. Rhodey's asleep so I can't go in the lab, I have time to kill.

Pepper's eyes widened. Tony hadn't been seen in public for weeks, maybe months and there were rumours spouting again. The last thing she needed as him in this mood making a scene in front of shareholders and potential investors.

"You can't go Tony, you look like shit and we can't afford the stock to dip any further." She huffed bluntly.

"I clean up alright." Tony protested.

"Can you magically put back on those 10 pounds you're missing too?"

"Actually, I can." Tony sat up, taking it as a challenge. "Or at least, I can make it look like I did."

"Oh no, no, no, you are not using the CAEB in public."

"Why not, a little mind control might come in useful, get the patrons to be a bit more generous…"

"Tony!"

"Come on, you can't complain at me using my powers for good and a bit of real world practise won't do any harm."

"Unless something goes wrong, which it always does." Pepper chastised.

"Come on it's for a good cause… Who is it for again?"

"Mental Health America." Pepper smirked.

Tony's eyes narrowed. "That's supposed to be funny is it?"

"I thought it was quite fitting under the current circumstances." She said challengingly. "What? You don't want to go anymore?" She smirked at him, wickedly.

Tony huffed and turned onto his side while Pepper smiled and rolled her eyes. She was glad she'd managed to put him off, it was for the best.

….

Clint chuckled quietly to himself as he came across a particularly interesting clip on YouTube. Pepper was not going to be in a good mood this morning, not in the slightest.

"What are you watching?"

Clint jumped out of his skin as Natasha just evaporated next to him. "Jesus Christ Nat!"

Natasha simply shrugged and offered nothing by way of apology. As Clint leant back so she could see the screen.

"When was this from?" Natasha frowned.

"Last night." Clint chuckled.

"Last night?" Natasha eyes went wide.

"Yeah, it was Stark enterprises charity ball." She had assumed it was from a few years ago, he certainly looked younger, in better health at least 10 pounds heavier. The CAEB, he had to be tricking everyone's eyes.

"Jesus Christ. Jarvis, where is he?"

"In his lab, though I will warn you he has initiated hang-over protocol."

"Come on, let's go check on him." Nat stood up and Clint followed eagerly as they made their way down to the lab.

Tony was lying on the couch, wrapped in both blankets and towels, still fully dressed in a rather flash, but soaking wet three-piece suit.

"Tony!" Natasha yelped, deliberately sharply.

Tony jumped violently and grabbed his head. "Shhh."

"Oh, dear is someone feeling fragile." Clint mocked.

"Shut up birdbrain." Tony whispered.

"Why are you wet?" Natasha asked, arms folded.

Tony chuckled. "Went for a swim."

"A swim?" Clint scoffed.

"The hotel didn't have a pool." Natasha

"No, but it had a fountain." Pepper said angrily, marching into the room her ball gown and Clint guffawed, quickly covering his mouth.

"Oh, Pepper chill out, I'll buy you a new dress. One that shows a little more skin cos you look like my Grandma"

Clint had to turn away to compose himself in the shock at that comment. Jesus Christ Tony was asking for it.

"I swear to God Tony!"

Tony grimaced and covered his ears with a hiss. "Please, if you are going to yell at me, yell at me quietly."

"You deserve that hangover." She said venomously.

"Even though the stock is up 40 points and we raised nearly double what you did last year?" Tony smiled cheekily.

"It hardly counts if you used mind control to get people to donate more." Pepper scolded.

"It wasn't mind control is was… a strong suggestion."

"That was reckless Tony." Natasha frowned.

"Yeah well, blame the scotch."

Natasha ran her fingers through her hair in exasperation and bit her tongue.

"Well enjoy the hangover. I hope you get a damn migraine" Pepper spat. "I need a shower."

Natasha left with Pepper to find out more about what had happened, leaving Clint behind with the wallowing billionaire.

"I didn't know you could still get this hungover. How much did you have to drink?"

"Way, way, way too much." Tony conceded. "I didn't even know I could even get drunk with the CAEB, but I guess since I was using my powers all night it slipped through the net."

"Well, what's stopping you from just fixing it now. Why suffer?"

"You're full of bright ideas at the moment Birdbrain." Tony smiled weakly.

His eyes flashed blue for a moment and the colour started returning to his face. "Great, back to work." He clapped his hands and went over to his desk, reaching for a bag of nerds.

"You made that look easy." Clint smiled. "You are getting stronger."

"Well, curing a hangover is a bit different to fixing tissue Clint."

"Granted."

"Jarvis tell Rhodey I need to starting working, so unless he wants to break his own rule he needs to get his ass down here."

"Colonel Rhodes is still asleep."

"Tell him he's a lazy git!" Tony ordered. "I have work to do."

"Dr. Banner is on his way down." The voice in the ceiling replied diplomatically.

"That'll do." Tony huffed. "Now shoo birdbrain, clever people working here."

"Rude." Clint scoffed. "And you might want to get changed first." He sniggered.

"You might be right, there was something seriously off with the water in that fountain."

….

Tony smiled to himself as the team's under-armour finally passed the conductivity tests. Step 4 was going well, it was the only one that was. He hadn't had much luck with the infernal machine and because of it, he hadn't even thought about his own armour upgrades. But progress was progress he supposed, even if there were only 21 days left.

Natasha's widow's bites could now take down the alien craft they encountered, and he had modified their armour so that if they should accidently get hit by these now supercharged widow's bites, they should just feel a slight prickle.

Clint's arrows now had 15 different settings. He'd had plenty more idea's, but he'd had to select the best, he doubted the archer would have known what to do with 324 combinations. He wasn't sure he would know what to do with 324 combinations and he had the brain the size of a planet!

Clint's quiver could now hold nearly double the arrows and the straps had been improved, the purpose of which was to hold up to 3 people's weight for a parachute. He knew the weight and bulk of a conventional parachute wouldn't be acceptable, so he designed an ultra-thin, ultralightweight fabric. It didn't perform quite as well, but it was enough to save their lives. Steve and Thor didn't really need it, but Clint and Natasha did. They were not having a repeat of the roof incident.

From studying what they had left over from the Chitauri invasion he had vastly improved their weaponry; 3 or 4 blasts should take down a Makluhk. Then there were SHIELD's phase 2 weapons, however much they all disagreed with how they'd been created, they were incredibly powerful and therefore incredibly useful.

Pretty much all of Stark enterprises' facilities were in full scale manufacture. They would have 8 times the number of replacements he had calculated they could possibly need in the battle. But they needed a better way to distribute them during the fight than simply by drone drop.. And he and Bruce had already got half way there.

They had been designing an armour capable of taking down the Hulk, it felt like so long ago now, back when things were less complicated. Veronica received her replacements from a flying Hub, he would redesign the AI to scan the battlefield for allies in need of weapons and deploy, as well as have a constant feed of data from Clint's quiver, and the other's utility belts so they always had what they needed.

But the Hubs would be sitting targets, easy for the alien craft to take out, unless... They were invisible and constantly moving. Retroreflectives had taken him all of 30 minutes to master and the hubs would be invisible to all but his own scanners.

All that was missing was the Asgardian weapons. If the soldiers of another world were going to risk their lives fighting for them, he could at least include them in his protective measures.

"J, where's Thor at?"

"He is currently on Asgard Sir."

Damn. There was no way of contacting Thor then. Phone's didn't work in space, he'd have to fix that. He added it to the list.

"When is he back?"

"That is not known."

It didn't matter anyway. With the Bifrost still under repair summoning the dark energy for travel on such a regular basis was proving difficult for Asgard. Tony needed a sample of Asgardian weaponry for the device and it would be useful to analyse both that and any armour, to see if he couldn't improve it. If he waited till Thor got back, then they would have wasted valuable time. It could be weeks until Thor was able to return to Asgard to fulfil his request and they didn't have weeks

How far away even was Asgard? Well, if he'd unwittingly seen that other dimension in a nightmare then how hard would it be to contact Thor a few galaxies away? It was worth a shot anyway.

He closed his eyes and breathed, searching for the familiar connection that was the Asgardian leader. The more time he had spent with them the more familiar he had got with the way he CAEB saw them. Each of them had an essence even more distinct than telling faces apart, voices… personalities. It was a pattern, a feeling each being gave him that was unmistakable. It was the same for that dog on the street outside right now, and the rat it was barking at, which was so done with dogs today it was considering an attack. He supposed it was their souls he was connecting with. It would do for an explanation until he figured out the science behind it. And he would figure out the science.

Anyway, ignore the squirrel, the dog and the paedophile following that 8th grade girl… actually don't ignore him he can accidently walk in front of that bus and wake up in hospital tomorrow. Whoops, that looked painful. Thor. He was looking for Thor. Instantly he felt an emptiness when he searched for the God. Thor wasn't anywhere to be found on earth, but he knew that. He relaxed and let the CAEB widen its search for the Prince, until he sensed the faintest sign of the God of Thunder.

He tried to reach out, but instantly felt the effort straining at him. It was so very far away and the pain at the back of his skull was warning not to push further. Yet, Thor's signal was still so faint, he couldn't get a grip from here, he needed to push on. He was surprised this was so hard, then remembered the state he had been in after that nightmare with Kairon in the cave… Bleeding from his eyes… Perhaps it wasn't wise to continue. He backed off a little and considered having some food and trying again, he was tried and drained. Not the best time to be trying stuff like this,

The suddenly, before he'd had time to withdraw back into himself when he was seized by an overwhelming force. He fought it on instinct, in panic, but confusingly it didn't try to hold him, nor did it fight back. It was a power not dissimilar to the CAEB and incredibly familiar, something was telling him it was friendly, that it was trying to help. He took a deep breath and accepted the other force. It gave him the bridge he needed, and he was snapped into Thor's mind.

Heimdall. Now he recognised it.

' _Thor.'_

…

"Heimdall what is it?" The seer's eyes had glassed over and bore their usual bright amber glow. Thor had seen that look many a time. "What do you see?"

"It is Stark. He tries to contact you."

"He does? What is it?"

"I do not know, he attempts to make the connection, but it is too far, he may cause himself harm if he tries to continue."

"Can you warn him?"

"I believe it is important, I will help him make the connection, but you must not keep him long."

' _Thor_.' Tony's voice came through suddenly and startled the God a little. Heimdall really could work wonders.

' _Stark you must not try to hold this connection.'_

' _It's fine, I'm getting stronger, but Thank Heimdall for me.'_

Heimdall nodded at his king. _'He can hear you Stark.'_ Thor relayed to the phenomenal Midgardian.

' _Great. I'll be brief. I made a device to distribute weapons and ammunition when it runs out, so no one is left without a means to arm themselves during the battle.'_

' _You need Asgardian spares.'_ Thor understood.

' _Yes.'_

' _I will bring what we have when I return and will tell the forges to begin making more, we are admittedly behind on those preparations.'_

'Perfect. You could do the same with armour as well, if it is damaged the hubs will send in a replacement, I could also use some samples to analyse.'

'Of course…' Thor begin but the connection seemed to end abruptly.

"Stark?" Thor asked aloud.

"He has gone." Heimdall conformed, concernedly.

"Is he well?"

"I will need a moment." Heimdall said concentrating as he sought out the engineer on Earth. "He is drained, but relatively unharmed."

"Relatively?" Thor protested.

"He will be fine my liege." Heimdall comforted.

"I wish he would not do that." Thor sighed.

"Time is short and he has no other way to contact you whilst you are on Asgard. It was the logical course of action."

"Be that as it may, I still wish he would not so readily put himself in harm's way."

"There are many share your view my Prince, myself included, yet despite what the people of Earth choose to believe, Tony Stark is not one for putting himself first."

…

When Rhodey walked into the lab, the engineer was standing deadly still.

There had been less than a half an hour break between Bruce leaving for lunch and Rhodey arriving. Tony, despite swearing at, punching or forcefully dismantling anything that dare aggrieve him over the past few days had been relatively stable. He'd been 'sleeping' 4 hours a day, eating well and regularly and breaking up work with CAEB training. As a result, Bruce, Rhodey and Pepper had decided to trial him with short periods left to his own devices in the lab which so far had been working… until now.

The vibe in the room hit Rhodey like a truck the moment he stepped through the door. Something was off… Something CAEB-y was going on in here, he knew it. It was something they had all become sensitised to recently and Tony's body language and glowing blue eyes only confirmed his theory.

Rhodey approached Tony cautiously staying in his line of sight.

"Tony? You good?" He asked, snapping his fingers in front of Tony's face, but the glassy eyed stare of the engineer just continued. He didn't so much as blink a Rhodey's presence.

The airman suddenly felt alarmed but took a deep breath. Maybe he was just trying something. He decided to give him 60 seconds before he started to panic and try and pull him out of… whatever this was, but he didn't even need to wait that long. The second that blood started to drip from Tony's nose, he gave his friend a little shake. But Tony was well and truly focused, in fact, he didn't look like he was there in the room. What on earth was he doing?

Then soon the bleeding grew worse. "Tony come on, that's enough." Rhodey shook his shoulder more firmly as the river of red began to run a little faster.

"Come on, snap out of it." He snapped his fingers again and gave Tony a light tap on the cheek. There was still no response, so he kept trying to rouse the engineer, to no avail. In fact, Rhodey had got so caught up in trying to get a reaction, he hadn't realised, the blood that had started to drip from Tony's eyes.

"Shit!" Rhodey suddenly redoubled his efforts. "Tony, come the fuck back to me right now. Come on! Wake up!"

Rhodey slapped the engineer hard across the cheek and stared expectantly into his best friend's eyes. It took a moment, but Tony suddenly took a deep breath. Electric blue eyes fading back into their familiar chocolate brown.

He blinked at Rhodey a few times in confusion, before the world settled back into place, then he frowned, his hand moving cautiously to his face.

"Ow!" He protested at the sting on his cheek. "What did you do that for?" He asked rather annoyedly.

"You're bleeding from your eyes again." Rhodey huffed, handing him a tissue. "It's not a good look."

Tony huffed in annoyance and then swayed a little on his feet. His vision went spotty in the corners and his legs suddenly went limp underneath him.

"Tony!" A strong pair of hands had grabbed him before he even knew what was happening and he grabbed back at them, latching onto the fabric with a vice like grip. "Woah, its ok, I've got you."

He felt himself being sat down on something soft and a bottle pressed to his lips as the world came back into focus. He swatted away the drink as he steadied up. "I'm not a baby Rhodes quit feeding me."

Rhodey didn't reply, he just sighed patiently. He was getting far too used to catching his falling friend and he was trying not to get angry right now, but did the idiot have any idea what he was putting them all through?

"Sorry about that." Tony said sincerely. He had every idea what he was putting Rhodey through. He knew he had probably just scared the shit out of his best friend… again and that wasn't fair. He wasn't the one that suffered most when he hurt himself like this, he knew how much his friends hated it.

"What were you doing?"

"Long distance call to Thor, it couldn't wait. It was tougher than I expected, had to cut it off early."

"Ok." Rhodey said understandingly. "Come upstairs for a while, rest have something to eat." Rhodey suggested gently.

"I'm going to head to bed for an hour." Tony conceded. He was drained and that had hurt, and he couldn't do anymore work feeling like he'd been hit by a truck.

Rhodey smiled genuinely, the type that reached his eyes. "Thank you." He tapped Tony on the shoulder. "What can I bring you to eat?"

"Protein shake, chocolate flavour 3:1 Carb to Protein, I need that sugar. And get me some goddamn marzipan, I don't know why but I need some."

Rhodey chuckled. "Jesus feeding the CAEB is like running around after pregnancy cravings. Is that why you're so grumpy as well?"

"Shut up Rhodes."

"No seriously, what was it you wanted last night?"

"Shut up."

"Sour cream and onions pringles, with vanilla ice cream… In a sandwich."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Tony, you don't even like sour cream and onion chips, you said they tasted like toxic waste until this week."

"They're growing on me and it's a good combo!"

"Tony that's not a good combo, that's revolting."

"Have you tried it?"

"Tony I'm not trying that." Rhodey raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

"Then shut up and stop dissing it! Hypocrite." Tony snarled.

Rhodey rubbed his hand over his face in frustration. "Shut up and go to bed. I'll bring you your damn marzipan."

"Get the proper stuff." Tony called after him. "German style, fresh, not our garbage, the sugar balance is all wrong."

"Yes, yes, yes I know." Rhodey grumbled.

How the hell was he going to find that in the city? And at this time of night.

…

When Rhodey came back Tony looked like he was passed out asleep, but Pepper wasn't. She was perched next to him on the bed, looking a little worried.

Rhodey had been gone been nearly 3 hours, starting with Jarvis searching everywhere within a 5-hour radius to discover that, unless he was going to fly to Tony's favourite spot in Lübeck he was screwed.

"He ok?" He asked Pepper quietly and she shrugged, before Tony's quiet voice interrupted them.

"What took you so long?" Tony grumbled. It seemed he had already emptied his bedroom snack supply, but he wasn't looking so good. He was still pale.

"Sorry, I had to make it from scratch. Nowhere was open."

Rhodey handed over a large block of marzipan and Tony looked at him with an amused look on his face. "You made me marzipan?"

"Yes." Rhodey said plainly.

"Aww Rhodey." Tony cooed, perking up a little. "Actually," He said with his mouthful. "That's pretty damn good Rhodey. I'm impressed."

Rhodey shook his head. "Well I'm glad you approve. I'm going to bed."

"Night Rhodey." Tony tuned over, huddling the plate close to him under the duvet.

"You are not eating that in the bed." Pepper said sternly.

"Try and stop me." Tony grunted.

She huffed and rolled her eyes. She could have protested, threatened to sleep on the couch, but she was too damn tired to care.

"Fine whatever."

…

To Rhodey's surprise, Tony did not get up early the next morning. He was damn glad. Tony had not looked good last night and to be honest, when he came marching into the kitchen not long before midday on a coffee hunt, he did not look all that much better.

"When's it due?" Clint sniggered peering out, looking up from his Stark pad.

"What the fuck are you on about?" Tony was not in a good mood and he could sense the feeling of amusement in the room and instinctively knew that the joke was on him.

"The baby." Clint smiled provocatively. "All these cravings. It must be triplets, you're eating for three."

"Is it a girl or a boy?" Steve chuckled, joking in despite Tony's obviously foul mood.

"Well you've been having a lot of citrus fruits? According to this, citrus cravings mean you're having a girl." Natasha smiled wryly.

The scientist in Bruce frowned. "What the hell kind of site are you looking at?"

" ." Clint sniggered.

"That is the biggest load of horse shit I have ever heard."

"Don't put down the old wives' tales Stark, there's often science behind them."

"Do you think before you open your mouth?" Tony snarled.

"Are you crazing sweet or salty foods Tony?" Natasha asked.

"Definitely sweet." Rhodey sat down munching on a slice of toast. "He wanted Marzipan last night."

"Do you sleep on your right or your left side?"

"It varies." Pepper yawned. "He never stays still, keeps me awake half the night."

"Soft hands?"

"He's never had soft hands, I don't think we can use that one." Pepper conceded.

"Mood swings?" Natasha asked.

"Don't you all have something better to be doing." Tony roared from the kitchen.

"That's a yes then." Clint scoffed.

"Well it's conclusive Stark. You're having a girl." Natasha smiled teasingly.

Tony glared at them and then left without saying a word.

"You've upset him."

"He was already pissed off." Clint shrugged.

"Did we go too far?"

"It was a joke in good humour, he just didn't sleep well." Pepper sighed.

"Nightmares?" Bruce asked.

"I don't know, he doesn't talk about it much anymore and I daren't press him."

"I suppose I better make sure he doesn't break anything important." Rhodey sighed. "Himself included."

"I'll take over for a bit Rhodes, there's some stuff I need to ask him." Bruce offered.

…

20 days to go. That countdown clock was really getting on Bruce's nerves.

"Tony?" Bruce frowned at the Engineer who seemed to be breathing heavily and holding himself very tense. The physicist leant to the side on his chair to try and see the screen Tony was working on. There was a large red box in the centre of the display which read simulation failed. Bruce's shoulders sunk. Not again, surely? Tony had been making tweaks to the machine all night, running the simulation took 6 hours, 6 hours of watching and waiting and all for nothing it seemed. Algorithm or not, calibrating the machine's settings was proving incredibly difficult and it was fraying Tony's already fragile temper.

Bruce snapped out of his trail of thought to see Tony, sledgehammer in hand marching with his eyes locked on the machine.

"No, No, No, No!" Bruce grabbed the shoulders of the advancing Avenger and turned him away from his machine. "Let's not hit that, you will not be happy about it later."

Tony gave him an angry glare, clearly more eager to smash the object of his frustration than anything else. "Don't give me that look you'll thank me later." Banner glowered back. "If you want to hit something hit that." The scientist offered, gesturing at the wall. "Or go to the green room and practice, you could use a break from this."

Tony swung the hammer above his head, smashing it into the concrete 3 times, swiftly and viscously. Shards of concrete erupted into the room and Bruce instinctively covered his face to shield his eyes from the onslaught. But he felt nothing. Then he noticed the blue glow that was shielding him from flying shards.

When Tony put down the hammer, he looked less angry more defeated and his face was littered with small cuts from the sharp shards.

"Tony…" Bruce sighed. "Let's take a breather. Come on."

"Why won't it fucking work?" Tony growled, running his hand through his hair in frustration sinking down to sit on the floor of the lift.

"I don't know, Tony, I really don't." He sighed again. "All I can say suggest is leave it alone for a bit and it might come to you. In the meantime I'll have a look and so will Fitz, but you're done for the day."

"Bruce if I can't make it work and we can't close the portals then we're all screwed."

"I know. It'll come right." He comforted. "But look, Tony, that's not what's worrying me right now."

"What is it?"

"Why did you shield me and not yourself."

Tony hesitated, uncharacteristically. "I can heal myself."

"That logic doesn't work Tony, you can heal me too."

"Yeah, but why would I let you get hurt in the first place? And there's the Hulk to consider."

"Why would you let yourself get hurt in the first place?" Bruce asked gently. "Pepper said you're not sleeping."

"I thought you all agreed you'd just leave me be." Tony snapped.

"Did Rhodey tell you? Pepper?"

"No." Tony admitted with a huff.

"You heard us?" Bruce frowned.

"Not intentionally, let's just say the phrase 'ears burning' actually applies with the CAEB. Though my ears don't actually burn, its just like, well I instinctively know when you lot are talking about me."

"Ok." Bruce frowned, a little concerned. "Well yes, we did, and you said it yourself, angry Tony is better than broken Tony right now, but that doesn't change the fact that this isn't healthy, and I'm worried about you. We're all worried about you."

"And I really can't go there right now Bruce. I'm barely holding it together I'll admit that, but I think we've proved many times that talking doesn't help, it only makes things worse."

"Fine. How about we go into the green room and I throw grenades at you?"

Tony blinked and looked "Now who's the angry one? Isn't that a Hulk hazard."

"I can handle it if you can and besides, it's the green room, even if you do blow me up the Hulk isn't going to do any damage."

"You should let him strut more often."

"I need him riled up and eager for this fight, so try not to provoke me too much."

"I can't promise anything." Tony winked, and Bruce chuckled as a weak smile broke out across his best friend's face.

"Screw grenades, get the rocket launcher."

"I'm not firing a rocket launcher at you."

"Oh, come on, I know you want to." Tony teased.

"No, I really don't."

"Why not?"

"Because its asking for trouble."

"I can handle it."

"You know what I don't doubt it, but I'm not going to be responsible if something goes wrong."

"And grenades can't go wrong?"

"Grenades don't threaten the structural integrity of the building."

"Neither do rockets, it's the green room!"

"I said no Tony."

"Fine, be boring." Tony conceded, and the elevator doors slid open. "I'll get Clint to do it later." He muttered under his breath. The archer wouldn't be such a wimp.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

….

Clint fired another of the new arrows. They were beautiful. So, was the bow and quiver. Considering Tony had probably never fired a bow in his life he had no idea how he made such a perfect weapon. The balance was so perfect, it almost took the skill out of firing it. With a bow such as this, a beginner would find it hard to miss. It felt weightless, but stable, stiff on the draw and had a range he had never dreamt of.

He got lost in the precision and beauty of each shot, he'd completely lost track of time and had barely noticed the presence of the other two people in the room. He closed his eyes and let another shot fire when he was brought back down to earth by a voice.

"Clint…"

"What?" He turned around to see Steve and Natasha looking shocked.

"That last shot…"

"You missed the target." Natasha said, with a frown.

Clint turned around, utterly confused. But there it was. The arrow was buried into the wall behind the target. "What?"

"Are you ok?" Steve asked in concern.

"Eh, yeah I…" Clint took aim again quickly and fired.

The arrow missed again.

"What the…"

Natasha's eyes narrowed. She took out her pistol and fired three shots. They all hit dead centre.

"What was that supposed to prove?" Clint said a little annoyed and highly embarrassed. "That the target isn't repelling arrows?" He barked.

"Maybe it's the bow?"

"There's nothing wrong with the bow!" Clint exploded.

"Clint calm down… I'm sure there's a rational explanation." Steve said, though his face was betraying his shock.

Natasha changed her clip and aimed again. Three shots. Three Bullseyes.

"Fuck's sake." Clint whined.

"Relax Clint." She smiled.

"How can I relax, I've lost it… I… I can't shoot anymore!"

"There's nothing wrong with your aim." She chuckled.

"What do you mean Nat?"

Then Natasha looked up and spoke deliberately loudly. "Because those last three shots I wasn't even aiming at the target, Stark!"

There was suddenly a deep chuckle from behind them and Clint spun around angrily.

"Busted." Tony smiled as the archer glared at him.

Clint drew his bow rapidly and fired in the blink of an eye, but the arrow stopped in mid-air inches from its target and the people in the room stared at it in both amusement and horror.

"You were going to shoot me in the balls!" Tony exclaimed in horror. "You little bitch!"

"You deserve it you moron!"

"Ok boys, ok, that's enough." Natasha stood between them still chuckling.

"What was that for!"

"That was for the pregnancy thing this morning."

"Seriously! But that wasn't just me! Tash was the worst, Pepper, Rhodey… even Steve."

"He got us earlier." Nat said simply.

"Oh yeah?"

"Made me think he'd put Nair in my shampoo." Natasha glared. "Turns out it was just an illusion."

Jesus Shit, that was a risky move.

"And she didn't kill you?"

"No, I was in a good mood, and it took me all of 10 seconds to realise none of you would dare do that." Natasha raised an eyebrow.

"What about you Steve?" Clint asked.

Steve blushed bright red. "He ermm, he…"

"I teleported him into a strip club." Tony said with a smirk. Now that was genius. Clint wished he could have seen the look on Steve's face. He wished he could have seen the look on the strippers' faces, bet they thought it was Christmas.

"You know it really isn't fair you pranking us when you have powers." Clint whined.

"Your just jealous Clint. You need to up your game birdbrain."

"What did you do to Pepper and Rhodey?" Natasha narrowed her eyes.

"Well, Rhodey spent 2 hours invisible with no one able to see or hear him."

"Like that internet prank?"

"Pretty much."

"Did he cry like all the little brats in the videos?"

"Disappointingly no. Actually, he seemed to quite enjoy it, so that kind of backfired."

"And Pepper?"

"I changed all the notes to her meeting to something not particularly appropriate for the board of directors. Again, she is obscenely prepared for these things so, it was barely an inconvenience, she just threw them in the trash."

"Right, well, if you don't have any work to do, you should at least be resting, and we have to train so get lost Stark." Natasha ordered the distraction out of the room.

"Sure thing." Tony rolled his eyes and left them in peace.

…..

 **Another 12K for y'all. That got away from me quickly. Next 2 chapters are fully planned out and nearly written! But I highly doubt I will be getting those out till the Christmas holidays start… I'm snowed under (and I wish that was literal but it hardly ever snows properly in Britain) and Uni must come first.**

 **And by heck am I excited for the next chapter! I hope you love it.**


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